Project: Walkürenritt
by Zoram Selrof
Summary: Sequel to The Filibusters of Death. The crucial year 2008 ended with the defeat of the FOD but also opened some enigmas regarding who they really were. 2009 has rolled in and some foreign forces are at work to deploy a new type of warfare devices which operate in both real world and Cyber World. Will the Net Saviors and their allies figure out who are behind them? Rated M for lemon
1. Chapter 1: The start of a conspiracy

**Project: **_**Walkürenritt**_

**By Zoram Selrof**

**Chapter 1: The start of a conspiracy**

14:52 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday January the 14th, 2009

"… Crawl: ten times! Speed it up, group!"

The students of a class were divided into small group of two to three persons which were swimming up and down the Akihara Middle School indoors pool following the instructions of the supervisors.

"Move it!"

The students quickly agitated their arms and propelled forward with their legs while diving their heads in and out: all of them returned to the south end of the pool and rested after a few minutes.

"Okay! Time's up! Climb out, get changed and head back to the classroom!" One supervisor announced.

The students climbed out of the pool and headed for the changing rooms: all of them were taking off their caps and swimming goggles.

"Man! This one is also into the "break 'em all down" league… They go and unload their bad mood into us: talk about a bunch of jerks!" Hikari Netto complained as he walked towards the changing room.

He was by now fifteen years old.

Physically, he'd grown in a noticeable manner, now standing at over a meter and sixty tall.

His hair was as unkempt as ever.

"This one must be into _Mahjong_, too." Hikari Saito added.

His usually neatly combed hair now was soaked, so it didn't have its usual symmetry to it.

He was maybe one or two inches taller than Netto.

"We'll look into it and complain to the representative!" A student walking besides them exclaimed.

The third guy walking down with them was a student about their age and maybe some inches taller than either Netto or Saito.

He had neatly arranged blonde hair which ended at his neck's base and his eyes' irises were green emerald.

His facial features were rather smooth and suave, thus making him stand out somehow.

"Yeah. Isaac will find it out in a breeze." Netto agreed.

"Man! I felt like I was about to die in there!" Ooyama Deako dramatized.

"Dekao – kun. Please be realistic." Hikawa Tooru rolled his eyes.

"What! I'm never realistic?" Dekao grumbled.

"You aren't, Dekao. Stop dramatizing 'cause you don't have any talent for it." Netto told him with obvious annoyance on his voice.

"Just get your feet into the changing room." Saito annoyingly ordered.

They all entered the men's changing room and dressed back into their school uniform: they stored the swimming pool stuff in their sports bag and exited the indoor swimming pool building to head back towards their classroom.

"Hi~! Nelaus – ku~n!" A girl's voice called out.

Nelaus seemed to brighten from his previous bad mood as he turned around to see a girl walking towards him and the others.

She was around fifteen years old and maybe an inch or two shorter in height than him.

She had orange-colored curly hair and blue irises eyes.

She obviously was dressed in the girls' school uniform.

"Oh. Tamashita Aura – chan. What's up?" Nelaus asked.

"That supervisor was horrible! Don't you agree?" She asked him.

"Yeah. We're going to complain to the direction about this."

"What are cha guys up to today?" Sakurai Meiru questioned with a hint of bad mood on her voice: she didn't look in a good mood, either.

"Well! It's obvious, Meiru – chan! We want to get rid of that useless supervisor!" Ayanokouji Yaito told her.

"Look: class is gonna start in five minutes, so we better get inside."

"Pu~ri~n… Ni~r… U~p…" A sweet and soft voice suddenly rang out through the speakers.

"Purin? The Gen I Normal Type PKMN…?" Hikawa wondered.

"Sigma. He did say he had that idea but Blood Shadow shot it down: but he's the stubborn type…"

"Luckily you can't have a song which makes you fall asleep in the real world no matter how much you try." Nelaus muttered.

"Sigma – sama is too much of a troublemaker." Aura rolled her eyes.

"Why does she get to shine further than me?" Meiru muttered with some annoyance.

"Come on, Meiru – chan… Show her 'round the district…" Yaito hushed to her.

"I dunno what chat mean, Yaito – chan. Introduce her to your sky mowers instead."

"Tee, heh, heh…"

The singing halted as someone killed the switch and they sighed in relief as they entered the 3-A classroom and they sat down on their posts.

"Now History… Lovely. From 15:15 to 16:15… Last class of the day…!"

"Come on, Netto – kun. At least it isn't Ms. Math."

"I knew that, Saito – niisan, but… Huff. Wednesdays are TOO long."

16:15 PM (Japan Time)…

"… And that's all for today… See you tomorrow."

The History teacher departed the classroom and everyone sighed in relief: their day was over.

"It's over! Now we can get home and cool off." Netto sighed in relief.

"I want to find out if I got another Space Weather mail."

"Personally, I just want to get homework done with."

"I'll go take care of some stuff." Aura giggled.

"What are cha up to, hmmm?" Meiru questioned her.

"What. Sakurai – san… Don't tell me you have jealousy…" Aura smiled at her.

"Hmpf! It's not that. If you deal with Rainon – kun… Then I don't mind at all… However! Something reeks in here." Meiru replied, unimpressed.

"Meiru – chan… You've been saying that stuff ever since she transferred here!" Yaito complained.

Dekao waved his arms as if to get Meiru's attention from behind her: Hikawa directed a skeptical glance at him before leaving the classroom.

"Dekao – kun. You wouldn't even impress your little brother." Meiru dully told him without bothering to turn.

Dekao felt a shiver go down his spine and began to sweat.

"Hmpf. I don't need any telepathic power to know what you're doing behind me. The window's reflection tells me everything."

Dekao got the message, so he quickly ran out of the classroom.

"Let's move our feet." Netto shrugged.

The rest of the group departed and headed towards the ground floor lockers: they changed their shoes and picked up their Link PETs from the chargers inside.

"Good afternoon, Aura – chan!"

"Felicia: you look animated."

She seemed to be around her Operator's height at a first glance.

Her helmet was colored olive green and it had a sapphire set into its forehead which glowed differently depending on the light's angle: the helmet included a cobalt blue matrix over its surface.

Her eyes were cobalt blue as well and two twin tails of blondish hair came out from behind her head.

Her bodysuit's main color was cobalt blue instead and her emblem was the same one as in the PET.

Her shoulders were anatomically correct and had ruby plating over them while her arms and elbow were colored in a mix of blue and white decorated with emerald square dots.

Her forearms were colored orange and had eight thin pink circles circling along their length.

Her legs used a mix of blue and yellow and contained diamond-shaped brown dots scattered at random.

The boots had been painted using orange color and had zigzag patterns which vertically spanned the height of them.

"Hiya, Nelaus! What's up?"

"Huff. A LOT. Wait till I tell you, Isaac."

Isaac, Nelaus' Navi, was about a meter and eighty tall.

His face was young and looked like a guy on his teens: his eyes' irises were purple and they had a hint of amusement to them.

His helmet had a central ruby jewel over the forehead shaped like a cross having four triangle ends: eight lines radiated from the central of it and spread across its surface.

The helmet's main color was navy blue.

The helmet was also filled with small round and random green dots.

His ear-pads had a white edge and a reddish central body: the Alphabet "I" letter colored purple had been printed there.

His neck had a piece of armor shaped like the Alphabet "V" protecting its base before the start of the chest: it had a cyan edge which split it into two halves the insides of which were colored yellow.

His shoulders were slightly curved square pieces with brown edges, a central silver matrix and five bronze paws forming out of the southern edge which weren't even 5cm long.

His main body color was blue and a central thin purple line spread from the neck's base until his waist, being interrupted by his chest emblem which had the same design as that of his ear-pads.

Some small jade-colored pieces made of two triangles aiming in opposite directions fused at their base were set in columns along the sides of his upper body: none of them were taller than 2cm.

His waist had a belt with three converging rectangular stripes of white edges and black body: they fused in a diamond having a gray body plus a repetition of his Navi emblem on its center.

His arms had purplish DNA imprints painted over their surface.

His forearm armor had a magenta matrix on them while his wrists were colored in a bronze color.

His hands were blue in color too and they had a circle with a white edge the insides of which depicted the Katana "I" colored purple: some "stars" were drawn at random over the background of the symbol.

His legs had some round dots set along their height which contained a drawing: the edge was brown, the core of it was purple and eight slightly curved lines painted red stretched from the core: the gaps between each one were colored blue.

The knees contained a circling bracelet colored mahogany and having those two fused triangles on the front colored golden.

The boots were colored purple and had an eight-pointed sapphire set on the inward side just below the ankle: eight thin indigo lines spread from each spook of the sapphire and across the boot.

Overall he was very cool and looked advanced.

"Well. Supervisor Mitanomoto is a jerk." Nelaus rolled his eyes.

"Oh. I overheard his Navi talking with the gym teacher's, Andomoto's, Navi… They were discussing over a _Mahjong_ game." Isaac told him.

"What a bunch of _Mahjong _addicts." Netto complained.

"We ought to make 'em play mouse-n'-cat instead!" A heavy voice announced.

"Sigma. That joke of the "Purin" was lame."

"Mwah, hah, hah…"

A Navi projected from Netto's Link PET.

He was colored jet black and a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area.

This spheroid seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.

His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on both sides of his head and added a "demonic" look to him.

Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand which was easily over a meter tall.

Overall, he seemed to be tall and imposing.

"You don't learn." A new voice joined the conversation.

"Did ya say somethin'? Bloody~ Shadowy~?"

"Quit the nickname. I'm Blood Shadow. End of the tale."

"Mwah, hah, hah… The "End", the Cobra Unit sniper, came~… It's about to reach the end!"

"Huff."

Blood Shadow was about a meter and sixty in height or maybe closer to a meter and seventy: his main color of choice was red.

He sported black shades: a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.

His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.

His right forearm was covered by a device colored red coupled with a piece of it which was colored transparent red: a small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.

"No wonder you look so tired, Blood."

"Having to deal with this guy's pranks…" Netto rolled his eyes.

"Mwah, hah, hah…"

"Ah! Isaac – kun! There you are." Felicia grinned at him.

"Good afternoon, Felicia – chan."

"Guts, guts! What do we do, Dekao?" Guts Man asked him.

"I wish I knew." Dekao rolled his eyes.

"Use your brains." Yaito told him.

Glyde was hardly muffling his laughter over his Operator's comment.

"Don't pick up fights." Roll told him.

"Guts! Guts Man will follow Roll – chan's advice! Guts!" Guts Man blushed.

"Mind ya: ya look like a gorilla." Sigma told him.

"Guts… The world is so cruel… Guts…" Guts Man hung his head down and sounded depressed.

Glyde kept on trying to muffle his laughter without too much success.

"Let's scram."

"There goes good ol' Blood Shadow for ye lads!"

"You picked up that pirate dialect, huh?" Blood Shadow sighed.

"It sounds cool!" Sigma laughed.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Hikawa requested as he caught up to them.

"Tooru – kun forgot his textbook, desu." Ice Man announced.

"Please, Ice Man! Don't babble it around." Hikawa rolled his eyes.

The students exited the building into the street and soon picked separate ways although Nelaus walked home along with Netto and Saito.

"We're on Wednesday. If nothing big is announced for the next two days then we can go heat up at the HQ on Saturday." Nelaus suggested.

"Yeah. We really need to heat up." Netto nodded in agreement.

"Remember that we must make sure nothing is big falls upon us on either Monday or Tuesday." Saito warned.

Nelaus waved good-bye at them once they reached the street where the Hikari house was at before he picked another path back to his home: he unlocked it and stepped in.

"Ah… It feels good to be able to properly stretch. And now I feel like another man." Nelaus commented to Isaac.

"Thanks to the "operation" you discovered traits of you which had been hidden."

"Heh. Yeah. Too bad, ex-_senpai._ But if you thought I'd drown in that anguish then that ain't possible anymore. Go storm Korriban with Legion 64 and see if you find Darth Krayt there."

"He hasn't shown his hide around since a month ago… He's gotta be working on the FOD data, I'd say… Hmmm…"

16:53 PM (Japan Time)…

"…Boss? Do we have any news?"

"We don't. And this worries me."

Two persons were talking inside of a room which was shaped like a dome: the ground had the general form of the Hikari emblem although the straight line and the pyramid-like bases were placed at the north and south ends instead of being in the north-west and south-east ends like in Netto's bandana.

There were two half-hexagon spots which had been built such that the ground was thirty centimeters lower and covered in a grid-like material to allow for air to flow across it.

The corridor was only wide enough for one person to walk through and it had a small hole from which a rail originated around the middle point of it: it extended forward until it reached the spot where the man's armchair (which had a purple Alphabet "V" drawn behind it) was at.

A closed hatch could be seen set on the ceiling directly above this middle spot.

The far end had a control console a group of 3 LCD screens set in a curved manner over the console: the room had some circular LED lights (like the ones in traffic lights) set on the walls forming figures.

There was a black armchair set on the rail in front of the consoles.

"Huff."

"I know, Omega, I know…"

Omega, a Net Navi, was about one meter and eighty tall.

He had a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots: two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.

A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.

His eyes' irises were blue and they displayed calm and concentration while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached all the way to the floor.

"So? Do we have anything on Melbourne, Boss?"

"Nothing. The guy must've come up with a disguise and must be hijacking Wi-Fi access points at random to send and receive data."

His interlocutor was sitting in the armchair.

He looked on his mid – twenties, had messy jet black hair and red eye irises.

He wore a grayish armor made of several plates joined together of an unknown material and two swords sheaths were attached to his black belt.

His arms and legs were also covered in plating and he had boots and gloves of the same material.

A purple ragged, stained and torn cape hung from the back of the shoulders and reached all the way to the floor.

"And besides… We don't know who "Oracle" is, what does "P. W." stand for and who the heck was behind the FOD solo Navis apart from Twilight."

"It's something worrying."

"The information supplied by Tafeux is too scarce as well. All points to southern Sharo near the border with Cream Land: but Cream Land would never organize such a thing taking into account their pacifist nature. Do you have any other idea we haven't already discussed over a dozen times, Omega?"

"No. I don't, Boss."

"Another point which worries me is where the heck that "Shadow Devil" weapon came out from. It looked like it was there for field testing."

"In short: we're stuck."

"In essence and for all intents and purposes…"

"Why would they want the combat data, anyway? If they wanted to program new Net Navis to learn our tactics and counter them then we can always come up with new ones. We're missing something. It looks like Twilight didn't learn the lesson we taught Atomic Network." Omega grumbled as well.

"Both the Council of Armies and the Justice Council are running some investigations around there… But we can't get a hold of any evidence. We don't know why one of the FOD murdered one informer Dark Miyabi personally knew, either. Tafeux was never told about it." The man nervously tapped the armchair's right armrest with his fingers.

"… I'm going to see Zero. Maybe he's noticed something." Omega announced.

"Do as you like." The man made a dismissing gesture.

Omega turned around and walked towards the southern end of the room where there was a small rectangular platform with walls which reached to the height of the waist: the platform began to descend an inclined shaft once he stepped into it.

_Where will at this lead us to?_ Omega wondered.

"…infinite and finite sin and struggle and battling and conflict and…"

"DRAGON HELL! ANGER GOD: DESCEND!"

"Ua~h!"

"Dragon… I dunno why the only thing which seems to scare you is that "Anger God" thing we improvised out of the blue… I guess you take myths too literally and your banners are not better… Not to mention your own weird random cooking… I'm glad I don't have to eat." Omega rolled his eyes and sighed.

"GHRKZGHAKT!" The "Boss" yelled something undecipherable.

"We don't need Martian V09.01…"

"Damn you! Twilight! Stick out your ugly hide! I want to crush you!"

20:18 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Ready?"

"Ready."

Two persons were standing inside of a badly-lightened alleyway: they looked about to break into a building's back door.

One could be about a meter and seventy-five in height but his age was around his early 20s.

He had messy silver hair which spread slightly backwards and formed some spikes: his eyes' irises were blue.

His clothes consisted on a navy blue overcoat which had a central silver button about the waist: the coat then opened to expose his legs although it covered the rear of them.

He wore a black shirt beneath the overcoat plus black fingerless gloves on his hands: he also sported black jeans and sneakers.

The right shoulder contained blackish armor with an orange-colored edge and a silver button right over it which seemed to help it be gripped to the shoulder: three circles were then drawn on his right sleeve before a triangular piece of armor expanded over the hand: its main body was black too and it had orange edges.

His PET was colored silver and brown and had an emblem: it was a perfect golden-colored cross which was drawn inside of a silver circle having a brownish edge.

"OK. I, Leo, will go first: you, Ryuuto, go second. The Analog Snatcher & the Cyber Snatcher! Heh, heh, heh!"

"Jeez. There's no need for nicknames."

The second man looked around a bit younger than "Leo" by one or two years and shorter by about 4 to 5 centimeters.

He had unkempt reddish hair and brown eye irises which currently depicted seriousness.

He sported a golden-colored sleeveless vest which was open and he had a black t-shirt underneath it: he also wore blue jeans with a modern-looking double-row belt.

He had an arm strap for a Link PET on his right arm: the Link PET was colored in camouflage colors.

Its emblem was a skull colored black and with blue eyes set against a silver background.

The first man drew a pyramid-shaped energy saber colored blue while the second man drew a Beretta M92F re-designed to hold tranquilizer bullets.

"I cut. You cover me."

"Roger."

The first man silently cut a small rectangular hole on the door's frame and pushed the cut off section inside: he was able to remove the lock and open the door by putting his hand inside.

"Go!" Both announced in a hushed tone.

They ran up the stairs of the dusty and abandoned building until they reached the topmost floor where there was a door which had been left ajar: a feeble light was flickering inside of it.

"Nobody move!" The first man shouted as he kicked the door open.

"You're cornered!"

To their surprise, they only found mannequins inside dressed with Sharo army uniforms, caps included, sitting in chairs around a wooden table which only contained a gas lamp.

"Damn! The tip - off was a fake!" The first man growled.

"Whoever is behind this mess sure is a smart fox." The second man grumbled.

"I checked the Cyber World, Charles. There's nothing on it."

"Huff. Next time around let's use the Monolith to warp in."

A Navi projected from the first man's Link PET.

His body suit was colored in a deep brown color and he appealed as being about a meter and eighty tall in height.

His eyes' irises were chestnut brown and his face seemed to be shaped after a man on his early 20s: he currently displayed some annoyance which they didn't bother to conceal.

His helmet's color was red and so were his boots and forearms: the helmet had the _kanji_ for "seigi" or "justice" written in a golden coloring vertically across his forehead's height.

The Navi seemed to wear a vest over his chest armor colored silver and having bronze edges: the vest also had the Alphabet character "D" colored golden set on each side of its body.

His arms contained four thin brownish stripes running down the north, south, west and east side of them until they drew four circles around the wrist: his forearms had extra armor over it colored in a grayish color plus a small red dome inside of each palm.

The legs' length had been designed to include a network of patterns interconnected by some nodes which were reminiscent of human nerves: the boots' front edge was shaped like a triangle and so was the heel: they apparently served as close-quarters combat weapons.

"It's more deserted than the Arizona deserts, Martin!" A second Navi projected from the second man's Link PET.

He wore a Mexican-style hat over his brown dust – colored helmet which also had some random blue and black dots scattered around it: his eyes' irises were brown.

His main body was colored navy blue and he had an open blackish vest over the torso: he exhibited a _Sheriff_'s star on the right side of his torso.

His shoulders were anatomically correct and they had brass plating.

The arms' length and the elbows were colored brown too and his forearms were green with two orange circling bands on them.

His wrists had metallic bracelets on them.

He sported a black leather belt with two Colt revolvers on it along with bullets on his waist.

His legs were also colored brown but he had jeans over them which ended at the start of his boots.

The boots were colored black: they had blue and brown dots across them.

"Charlie~ Team. You know normal humans can't use that program."

"I was kidding, Dave~… Ask Hal to provide some popcorn."

"That's how it is, then. What do you think of it, Lander?"

"Seen from the front street… It'd look like these were real persons having a secret conference in Okinawa: but it was a total setup."

"And t'is proves that this ain't the work of some vulgar jackals."

"We're not gonna find out anything here and it's getting late. Let's scram: I wonder how Laika will react when I tell him this." Charles smirked.

"You and your jokes…" Martin directed a skeptical glance at him.

"So! Cyber Snatcher! Did you win your rematch against Deathgold?"

"Jeez. Of course I did. Mt. Battle too. And the Orre Coliseum: now that was a hard challenge!" He sighed and rolled his eyes.

"No wonder. Let's go Erro Muesiloc. Shadow Man's Ninja Idiom Mirroring Spell got Engaged at the Cost of 500 LP per Standby Phase."

"Jeez. Don't mix in Duel Monsters next. You pulled "Obelisk" on Ijuuin when we firstly met in November and then you used "Exodia" to scare the heck off Count Elec… Then "Dark Necrofear" was used to spook Higure Yamitarou along with the "Ouija Board"…"

"Yessir. Here's a cultured Cyber Snatcher for all Excellencies to regard, you'll see!"

"I'm off: this has been a wasted evening, anyway."

19:22 PM (Berlin Time)…

"… Hum. I think that this year around the director has more experience so the opera will be better…"

"Oh my. Isn't it Herr Kount Serbauf?"

"My. Young von Schneider. It's been a while."

"I am honored that you remembered me, sir. If memory serves we last met 2 years ago, sir."

Two men were speaking in the corridor of the Berlin Opera House in front of a VIP Box entrance.

One of them looked on his late fifties or early sixties and roughly one meter and eighty centimeters tall if not a bit taller.

He had grey hair along with an equally gray moustache while his eyes' irises were brown.

He wore a black tuxedo, pants and brown leather shoes.

"I was in good terms with your father, Young von Schneider."

"Truly, sir."

Schneider, his interlocutor, was on his mid-twenties and could be over a meter and eighty tall.

He had purplish-like hair which was neatly washed and combed and his eyes' irises were blue.

He was clean shaven and did have a fair young appearance to him.

He wore a gallant purple suit with white cuffs and sported white shoes.

"You also like _Der Ring des Nibelungen_?" _Kount_ Serbauf asked.

"Truly. Ah. Act III is about to start."

Both men headed to their seats and looked on as the familiar music of the _Walkürenritt_ began to play…

21:12 PM (Berlin Time)…

_Heh…_

Schneider, sitting four seats to the left of _Kount_ Serbauf, had his eyes closed and had seemingly enjoying the opera: he was inwardly chuckling, even.

_Heh, heh, heh…_

He directed a suspicious glance at _Kount_ Serbauf and his eyes shone with a strange lust on them.

_The true game begins once the tree has grown enough. It is time to harvest its fruits._

He joined the round of clapping as it finished and the customers began to leave: he and Kount Serbauf began to chat.

"By the way. Young von Schneider… What has become of your honorable father? I had heard he was not into good health." _Kount_ Serbauf commented with him.

"Alas. That is so true, _Herr Kount_. He has had a heart attack and now is bedridden. He will take long to recover." Schneider let out a sigh of sadness.

"I do hope he recovers. He is a man of much culture, and has contributed a lot in making donations to our libraries to keep our history alive." _Kount_ Serbauf commented.

"That is very true, _Herr Kount_. If you shall excuse me, I shall depart towards my residence." Schneider made a gallant bow.

"May fortune smile on you, young man." _Kount_ Serbauf told him as he patted his back.

"_Dankechen_." He politely replied.

Schneider walked out of the opera house and climbed into a black limo with a coat of arms: it was a golden hawk along with two swords and the word "SCHNEIDER INC." written on the bottom of its body.

"Back to my mansion…"

"Roger, sir."

_Kount_ Serbauf was picked up by a limo bearing the name "SERBAUF ELECTRONICS INC." instead.

"Good luck, _Herr_ Kount… The game's begun."

Schneider took out a cell phone from his chest pocket and turned it on while he was being driven to his family residence.

"Hmmm… I have a missed call. Let us answer it." He muttered to his own while lifting an eyebrow in intrigue.

He redialed the number and waited while the connection was being made by glancing at the expressway the limousine was circulating along.

"Hello? _Herr Präsident_?" A man's voice asked.

"That is me." Schneider replied.

"Ah. I had tried to reach you, but it would seem like you were not available." The man replied with a foreign-sounding German accent.

"I was at the State Opera House. I assume you are calling to know about when we can move out to field testing of P. W.'s Phase 1 _fruits_." Schneider replied: he obviously knew the purpose of the call.

"You have read me, _Herr Präsident_." The foreign man admitted.

"This weekend could be a golden opportunity. The Gobi Desert is practically deserted around this time of the year… And since the R&D department got some extra hands then the interfaces and all were completed in a breeze… I said February a few weeks ago but most of them are ready to roll…" Schneider trailed off in purpose.

"Good. Any accidental witnesses will be deal with. We can always cover it up by pretending to be a Top-Secret branch of the Choina military and it'd work. Excellent, _Herr Präsident_. We shall speak again."

_Truly, Herr General… A game's begun… Who will win? Heh, heh, heh…!_


	2. Chapter 2: Field testing

**Chapter 2: Field testing**

06:36 AM (Mongolia Time), Saturday January the 17th…

"… Good, good… Like that… Place that over there…"

"Roger."

The sun was beginning to rise above the horizon in the Gobi Desert: normally deserted at this time of the year, today it was very activity-filled.

"All preparations are over 90% completed."

Unmarked and unmanned military jeeps were circling around an esplanade area filled with several pieces of machinery bearing no logo and no serial number.

"Keep a safety distance from that."

Some military Jeeps were parked making a circle around a tall structure: it had eight support steel "legs" which were connected to a broad spheroid colored metallic black.

It had a total of nine circular openings on the underside which seemed to be designed to project something.

The whole thing was about five meters tall and had several cables connected to it coming from a command console.

A man was standing in front of the console: they seemed to be over a meter and eighty tall.

He wore a helmet with black shades and looked clean shaven: he seemed to be on his late twenties given the shape of his face.

He sported a white lab coat and some kind of purple bodysuit underneath it with the lowercase "gamma" letter painted bronze and set against a purple background.

He also sported military-like boots.

"Well, well… All is ready." The man in the lab coat announced through a radio link.

"Do proceed with the test, _Herr Doktor_." A familiar soft and German-accented voice replied.

"Roger. All personnel: evacuate to the required safety distance."

The man climbed into one of the Jeeps and they all moved ten meters away from the machine: the man in the lab coat picked a set of binoculars from the glove compartment and looked at the machine.

"Hum."

It seemed to be inactive for the time being: he then glanced at a chronometer he carried on his right wrist next and smiled.

"Heating up is complete. We are ready to fire anytime." The man in the lab coat reported.

"Go ahead." The voice commanded.

"Roger."

The man in the lab coat took out a remote from the coat's right pocket and pressed a set of buttons: the machine began to hum and vibrate.

"As scheduled…"

Purple light formed on the holes beneath the spheroid and they projected thin purple-colored energy beams which hit the ground and began to draw a circle with a complicated pattern on it.

"Heh, heh, heh…"

All the lines drawn on the ground were colored blue and looked cybernetic: the drawing was complete soon enough: the whole circle vanished to give way to a deep and apparently endless shaft the walls of which were made up of cybernetic data.

"… It is a success. We should be able to call for the Phase 2 components."

"Excellent. Go ahead."

"Hello? "G"? I'm looking at the footage you're providing. Lending you guys a hi-quality copy of the "Wily Program" was worth it, eh?"

"Obviously, Mr. Twilight."

The man in the lab coat picked a laptop placed on the passenger's seat and booted it up: he opened several programs and typed several commands into them.

"There they come."

"Excellent. The automated Navis I lent which worked 24/7 on these speeded everything up A LOT."

The shaft shone with a pale blue halo and some kind of fighting craft emerged.

These craft had a round metallic spheroid set at the center and two hexagon-like wings: the front of the spheroid had a "face" drawn into it instead of having a cockpit.

This face consisted in two reddish eyes, no nose, and a mouth filled with sharp shark-like teeth with three holes inside of it.

The eyes moved around as if to scan the terrain.

They looked like slightly edited _Star Wars_ rip-offs.

"… There has been a slight change of plans, _Herr Doktor_. Instead of using simulated data, _Herr _Generalwould rather desire battle data. There is a Choina Army secret airfield base ten kilometers north-north-west. They are conducting a series of training exercises so we can try them out."

"That shall be no problem, _Herr Präsident_. Please leave it to me."

"Perfect."

The man in the lab coat typed several more commands and the dozen crafts aligned themselves towards the direction of the base: they ignited a plasma engine and shot forward towards the endless horizon.

"Heh, heh, heh. This is the future, gentlemen. Let us sit and watch. It is going to be a fun show." The man in the lab coat smirked.

"Truly." Twilight chuckled over the radio.

06:58 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… They could've arranged for the drill to be in an hour's time, really…"

"I don't complain. It gives you training to be ready to deploy at any hour: it's not like an enemy would wait for us to have breakfast before attacking us, right?"

"Guess that."

Two combat jet pilots were chatting as they maneuvered their jet over the base's grounds and tested their aim with simulated fire aiming for some targets of different sizes on the ground.

"Huh? Don't you hear a loud whine sound?"

"Yeah… Huh! Look there!"

The mysterious crafts suddenly arrived without making any sound and opened fire with laser machineguns mounted on their mouths.

"T-they're shooting laser?"

"I thought that was sci-fi stuff!"

"Heck. Zong and Chang had to eject!"

"Damn. Another plane's engine got busted… Lo and Maro ejected too!"

"I don't think those are part of the program!"

"I think the same thing, too! Shoot at 'em!"

"I'm trying! Every time I lock into it, though… It suddenly jumps out of range! It's as if it knew I'm targeting it! And it's no surprise: even our planes know where we've been locked on!"

"It's coming from behind!" The second pilot gasped.

Neither of them hesitated: they punched the emergency eject buttons and shot out of the craft just as the engine was blown by the laser fire and the craft crashed into the ground.

"What the hell were those?"

07:09 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… Here they come back… Using the TIE as basis made things easier!"

"Heh! I got inspired by the _Dark Empire_ saga set post Battle of Endor: Palpatine came up with new fighter craft which had the electronic brains of strategic pilots built into them and had a terrific level of accuracy!"

The crafts returned to the spot where they had come from and returned into the cybernetic shaft: the large machine which had created it had been almost totally dismantled and its components stored into military trucks.

"_Herr Präsident_. The tests are a success. The onboard AIs equipped on the _Bifrosts_ work splendidly." The man in the lab coat reported.

"Excellent. _Herr General_ is deeply satisfied. He is now utterly convinced of our company's efficacy. We must put the finishing touches to the Phase 3 components once you return to the R&D lab."

"Well, G… I'll start up some ruckus in Japan to make them believe I'm the one pulling the strings… The more I can get their attention the best and I've got the means to do that… Heh, heh, heh… _Kyoudai_… _Star Wars_ has come back to haunt you lowlife's dreams… And evolve them into nightmares… Unending nightmares courtesy of Darkrai…"

"And Stove Man!"

"Cloud Man. Not again."

"Too bad, Swallow Man!"

"Yamato Man… Do we hit the fool?"

"I agree, Cosmo Man! Let's teach them yet!"

"Don't overdo it either!"

"Don't worry, Commander Freeze Man!"

"Uo~h! Tactical withdrawal! Sound the trumpet! I'm outta here~!"

"Huff. Really. That guy can be so brat-like… Zoan Gate Man won't steep so low! I'm off to commanding Legion 64 to gather data. Heh, heh, heh."

09:49 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Not again!"

"The coffee machine strikes back! Eh, Enzan?"

Ijuuin Enzan cursed upon seeing that the coffee vending machine in one of the Net Police's HQ corridors had broken down: he turned to his right to see Laika smirking at him.

"Why do these things only happen to _me_? You wouldn't have been boycotting me, would you?" Enzan questioned Laika while looking rather sleepy and sounding annoyed.

"Come on… Enzan. You're working too much at IPC. You don't sleep enough and that's bad for the health. Try drinking water instead."

"Grftx… Go your own something-way thing, Laika…" Enzan let out a large yawn.

"Are you up to something, Blues?" Search Man asked him.

"Maybe I am." Blues smirked.

"Maybe you're about to be visited by the _kiritengu_." A deep voice with obvious amusement announced behind Enzan.

Enzan turned around to be met with a _kiritengu_ mask which looked utterly terrific.

"YEA~RGH!" He uttered.

The person removed the mask, revealing Dark Miyabi with a broad smile on his face.

"What the…! Miyabi! That was cheap!" Enzan cursed.

"It was gallant. And it was a good system to get you to full alert mode and wake you up." Miyabi drily shot back.

"I'd rather say it was Sneaky Snake." Shadow Man chuckled.

"Jeez. That joke's overrated."

"Totally." Search Man sighed.

"I quote! "Wanderer of the sands: the Sand Spirit shall guide you to safety once thy pledge alliance to them and help them spread confusion so that they can eat it up and fill up."… Well?"

"That sounds like some RPG parody." Enzan groaned.

"Totally… Dragon Hell… He needs to be psychoanalyzed."

"By the way! Speaking of behavior… Has Laser Man behaved insofar?"

"I think so. He's still under 24/7 surveillance but insofar he obeys and doesn't protest. It's not on his code to protest when given an order by Regal so…" Laika shrugged.

"Anyway… Why the heck did you tell me to come here, Laika? Has something happened?" Enzan asked.

"Yeah. We must talk it with Commissioner Kifune." Laika now turned serious.

"Where are the twins and Nelaus at, anyway? I don't see them around."

"It's only us three for the time being. This is delicate information."

"…"Delicate information"… What… It's about something which isn't supposed to exist?" Enzan tried to guess.

"You could say so." Laika admitted.

The three of them reached Commissioner Kifune's office and sat down in chairs: he, Superintendent Manabe and Misaki were present.

"Good. We can start. Disclose what you know if you may, Laika – kun."

"Approximately one hour ago… A Top – Secret training facility of the Choina Army in the Gobi Desert was attacked by unidentified craft coming from the desert. The crafts were described as "unmanned, intelligent, and deadly". All pilots were able to evacuate their crafts but were unable to even harm any of them. Every time they locked on them they'd perform an evasive maneuver and show up behind the craft."

"What became of those attackers?" Commissioner Kifune asked while lifting both eyebrows.

"They retreated into the desert. And they were built with anti-radar material thus explaining why it caught all of them off-guard. There was no manner of trying to pursue them because all of the crafts had been shot down. My superiors got a hold of the information because we of Sharo possess a training facility twenty kilos west of the attacked one. We heard the scandal and deployed some aid vehicles and troops there so they told us what had happened. This will not be made public by either Choina or Sharo." Laika concluded.

"… What… It's a new Cold War? Where the heck did those things pop out from? As far as I know, none of the countries bordering the Gobi desert has the capacity to produce such things… How many of them were there, anyway?" Enzan muttered before asking.

"A dozen craft took part in the attack."

"This reeks. It sounds like a very bold and all-too-daring move, in my opinion. But it looks like Twilight's style." Miyabi commented.

"That's right! Twilight! He was involved in the programming of the FOD and showed his hide around but he's hidden again somewhere in Melbourne… Maybe they're programs to begin with!"

"Then it wouldn't be hard to produce them… They'd have limitless range, speed and firepower because they don't use physical means yet it must demand some energy expenditure from them… Maybe they have a limit of how much firepower and range they can travel…" Misaki muttered.

"It sounds logical, sir." Prism Man agreed on that.

"But this is but speculation and we've got no factual evidence. Keep this quiet as much as you can." Kifune ordered.

"Roger."

"We must start hunting for trails or connections ASAP."

"Leave it to us!"

10:13 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Oh! I can see it! A veil of mystery and dread… It is coming closer with every passing day…"

Two persons were sitting at opposite ends of a round wooden table covered by a green mantelpiece inside of a store decorated with various weird pictures, symbols and portraits of magicians: various Tarot cards had been placed in different positions on top of it.

The person sitting behind the table was a woman on her 30s.

She could be about a meter and seventy or maybe slightly taller.

She sported a reddish jumper and a knee-long gray wool skirt along with black shoes.

Her hair was dyed green over her natural brown color.

She had reading glasses on.

"Is that so, ma'am?" Aura asked.

She was the customer and looked engrossed into what the lady was telling her.

She currently sported a brown leather raincoat, jeans and black heeled shoes.

"However… The light will always pierce through the veil and expose the truth… You should be careful… Powerful people are playing a game, and it has already begun… You must not get involved, dear… It would be fatal for you…" The lady warned.

Aura gulped and quickly nodded in agreement.

"… Sorry. I tend to freak out from time to time, my dear… No. If you do not try to "snoop" into other people's affairs, then you have nothing to fear…"

Aura nodded again and looked slightly relieved.

"Regarding _THE_ topic… You have made progress… However… There is something… hidden behind several layers of deceit… which is a cruel fact!"

"Yikes!"

"I do not know if it will ever surface, but… You must be ready for it…"

"… Does this mean that _that person_ has some hidden secret they would rather not disclose to anyone?" Aura assumed.

"Remember one thing: if the person will not bring the topic out then you must not force it. It is clear enough?"

"It's clear enough."

"If you follow my advice then there's nothing to be worried about… Have a good time, my dear." The lady told her.

Aura smiled and gave the lady the agreed payment.

"Good-bye, ma'am."

"Good-bye, my dears."

Aura exited the store and looked at the banner on top of the entrance:

"ELIZABETH GLASSY'S FORTUNE – TELLING SHOP"

"Aura – chan! Ms. Glassy's predictions have a lovely sound to them! Do you think we have found something precious?" Felicia asked her.

"I don't doubt it, Felicia! Let's go see our individual…" Aura smiled at her.

Both of them were unaware that Ms. Glassy had been looking at them while pretending to be cleaning a case containing a magician's wand: she made a hidden smile and continued on cleansing while Aura walked away.

"Say, Aura – chan… It was a good idea to follow Ms. Glassy's advice and move here, right?"

"Totally. That all-girls'-academy… They were too _snob_ and bossy. Too many spoiled CEO girls and such… I didn't fit there and they looked at me like I was a parasite to begin with: especially the seniors… Nah! I did well on quitting and coming to live here with Aunt Sarami."

"Tee, heh, heh! We've got some luck."

18:35 PM (Utah Time), Friday January the 16th…

"… I do see. Those crafts were actually cybernetic and were brought out of the Cyber World by creating a permanent fusion of both worlds… This technology report will surely interest my makers."

A mysterious Net Navi was floating in the middle of what could be considered outer space and his design was quite unique.

He looked about a meter and eighty tall and bronze was the main color of his body with some white spots.

The drawing of a planet was engraved on his helmet's forehead.

His eyes' irises were purple and looked calm.

He had two triangular wings (currently folded) with grooves drawn on it and colored bronze.

These same grooves repeated on the rest of his body.

He didn't have any emblems on his chest or in the helmet's ear pads

"… Those scientists are putting the finishing touches to their "Time-Space Tower"… As long as they do not enter my craft, then… I have no orders to oppose them. I, Xon' Edos, realizing the will of my makers, have spoken."

He opened a screen showing a map of the Solar System and a purplish dot which was past the Asteroid Belt on the opposite side of the Sun and close to the orbit of Jupiter but the planet itself was 90º to the left on the orbit which meant the dot wouldn't actually encounter the planet.

"It has been slightly over a month and a half according to the local calendar yet their "months" have a variable length… My makers will surely have exited "this" Solar System by the time this hemisphere's "spring" comes… They shall plunge into sleep and they shall not wake up until they reach Alpha Centauri… My reports shall reach them nevertheless as they continue the exploration of this "Orion Arm" of our galaxy… According to my estimates Duo is over 23.457 light-years from this planet so…"

_He shall not interfere and maybe shall never reach this world… Good._

10:45 AM (Japan Time)…

"… We're all set."

"Let's go."

Netto and Saito had finished cleansing their bedroom and prepared to depart.

Netto was sporting his traditional sleeveless orange vest over a white shirt and jeans and he'd also picked up his classical bandana.

Saito's outfit was almost identical to Netto's, with the main difference being his sleeveless vest, which was colored sea blue.

He'd combed his hair to make it look like nicer.

The entrance bell rang.

"Netto, Saito! Dears! It's Enzan – kun!" Haruka announced

"Enzan? What does he want now?" Netto wondered.

"Dunno. Let's go talk with him." Saito shrugged.

Both climbed downstairs and entered the living room: Enzan was seated in front of the table.

"Hey, Enzan! What's up?" Netto asked him.

"What's up, Blues?" Saito asked Blues.

"Sit down and I'll explain." Enzan replied.

"It's serious stuff." Blues added.

Both twins sat in front of Enzan and waited to hear his explanation.

"It goes like this: some unidentified craft showed up of nowhere in the Gobi Desert, hit the Choina Army Base and ran away."

"Unidentified craft attacked a Choina Army base…? Who'd do that?" He wondered.

"Hmmm…" Saito looked thoughtful.

"Dunno. All we know is what I just told you. We're going to have to look further into this. Tell Nelaus about this stuff as well. But don't spread it too much. It's classified." Enzan told them.

"It's "delicate information"." Blues added.

"I get the point."

"That's all. See you soon." Enzan waved good-bye.

The twins departed home and headed towards Nelaus' house: they rang the bell.

"Coming!"

Nelaus opened the door.

He was sporting a black wool jumper, jeans and white sneakers.

"Hello, guys. Come in." Nelaus greeted.

Both of them entered without spotting Aura close by: she seemed surprised.

"_Chance_!" She announced.

"Yeah! _Go_!" Felicia rallied.

She carefully circled around the house and crouched between some bushes close to the living room's window: she could see Nelaus sitting on an armchair and talking with both Netto and Saito.

"… What? Are you serious?" Nelaus could be heard asking.

"Yeah, Enzan told us. And I don't doubt Laika's bosses to be correct 'bout this stuff." Netto was saying.

Aura frowned and seemed to be thinking about it.

_Ah! Ijuuin Enzan and Laika… They are Net Saviors just like them… I know Laika – san is from Sharo, so they must mean his military superiors…_

"The main problem is: where did those things come from and who made them."

"Do you think this has something to do with the FOD's goal? You know: they wanted to collect combat data on us Net Saviors… Maybe they're making new weapons which can fight us?" Netto suggested.

"It makes sense." Nelaus nodded in agreement.

"Just who'd bother to do such a complicated thing, anyway?"

"Dunno. One thing is for sure: it ain't Uncle Sam." Sigma chuckled.

"Of course it can't be. Be realistic, Sigma." Blood Shadow grumbled.

_The FOD… The Filibusters of Death, those bad guys Nelaus – kun and the Net Saviors were fighting against around the time I transferred…_

"Twilight's involved but it'd seem there's more to it."

"Ex-_senpai_… Always calling for trouble... Trouble Man's incarnation..."

"Come on, Nelaus… Don't overdo it either."

_Ex-_senpai_…? I think I heard some talk about that… Someone named "Twilight", one of the masterminds of the summer DNN Studios Hijack Incident… They're supposedly overseas…_

"How about we head to the HQ to train a bit? Let's ring our _chauffeur _up ASAP." Nelaus suggested with a smile.

"Nelaus… Denpa – san ain't a _chauffeur_… You can apply that to Agent On Air, but that's it." Saito grumbled.

"Sorry! I just wanted to try out a joke!" Nelaus chuckled.

_Who are "Denpa – san" and "Agent On Air"? I've never heard of them…_

She heard a car's engine approaching and spotted a black Honda FRV model slowing down until it parked in front of Nelaus' house: he and the twins came out, locking the house, and headed for the car.

_What's going around here?_

"Climb in, gentlemen."

"OK. Let's go!"

11:47 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Okay! Here it is."

The twins and Nelaus had been walking down a curved metallic corridor which had arches every a hundred meters approximately and was illuminated by fluorescent lights placed on the ceiling.

Various labeled armored metallic doors were placed at either sides of the corridor.

They had stopped before a door whose label read "VR ROOM #4".

"Inside we go!"

They opened it and stepped into a vast cubical room made of metal: there was one wooden chair set to the left of the door, which was placed in the south wall.

"That's my VIP seat."

Saito sat into it while Netto stood in front of him: a laser came out of his right eye and entered Netto's Link PET: Saito's eyes closed and his body seemed to enter a sleep-like state.

"Are we gonna rock?" Rock Man asked as he projected with the Link PET's hologram.

"Let's rock, niisan." Netto grinned.

A "Dimensional Area" engaged and filled the whole room's surfaces.

"_Good timing!"_

Netto quickly took out his special – version Synchro Chip.

This "Synchro Chip" included a central brownish dome with an emerald edge and eight straight spokes radiating from it in all eight directions: the purple "V" logo was set on place of the Hikari family crest which had been displaced to the body just before the contacts.

Nelaus' Synchro Chip was just the ordinary model issued by the Science Labs.

"Synchro Chip, Slot In! CROSS FUSION!"

"CF" Nelaus' helmet kept the blue coloring yet it had gained three square dots on the ear-pads and on the middle of the forehead which were colored golden, crystal and silver from left to right: a black matrix filled the rest of the helmet's surface.

His eyes were unchanged: some blonde hair came out behind the helmet.

The emblem remained unchanged and so did the armor protecting the base of his neck: yet, on the space below the emblem and before the waist belt (unchanged) the alphabet letters "N" and "S" colored in a platinum color had been drawn: the "N" was on the left and the "S" to the right of the vertical line splitting the body in two.

The shoulder design hadn't changed and the arms' patterns remained the same yet his forearms armor was different: the armor over the wrist was transparent purple in color and the Alphabet "N" letter colored green was set over it: the space over the palm had a black circle which contained a small red dot in the middle surrounded by different scales of red from dull red to crimson red.

The fingers had transparent red rings set on each one which glowed with a dull red glow.

His waist belt design hadn't been altered and his legs' drawings and knee guards were still the same.

His boots had slightly changed because they now had red and black matrixes across their whole surface and they included those "eyes" like in the space over the hands and set on both sides of each boot.

Both of them performed "Cross Fusion" sans a flaw.

"Heh. I keep on being Number One Cool Guy."

"_Here we go, my comrades_!"

"_Ikuzo: waga doushitachi yo_!" Rock Man automatically translated.

"Comrades? Well! Why not…" He chuckled.

A matrix of green lines and black squares filled the room: the surroundings changed to a cybernetic-like world and they could see a white round "portal" ahead of them: all of the circuitry seemed to head towards its body.

"It's time for some action!"

Both "Cross Fusion" fighters seemed to be propelled inside of it and everything became white.

"Arrival…!"

"And welcoming…!"

Both of them were standing in a ruined building the next moment.

Various soldiers wearing a brown uniform along with helmets were stationed there: they carried laser machineguns.

"Sires! We Charlie Platoon are ready for duty!" The soldiers saluted at both "Cross Fusion" fighters.

"What is the situation like?" "CF" Netto asked.

"We have been laying siege to the enemy's fortress: its heavy defenses have taken a toll on our heavy weaponry. We know the enemy's High Command members are at the topmost tower but the whole perimeter is overfilled with AAC guns and shield generators. We have managed to take down most of them but the mountain chains at both sides of it impede us of attacking the rear. Command has issued a plan. Deputy Arnold will brief you in." One Lieutenant reported.

A man with the Deputy rank stepped forward and saluted.

"The mission is to be carried out tonight. We are to sneak over the watch posts of the tunnels and secure them. We can circle around them and destroy the rest of defenses. We could then call for an air bombing in order to force the enemy to surrender." The Deputy explained.

"Good. We'll be scouts and clear off the vigilance." "CF" Nelaus nodded.

"Let's go."

Both of them looked outside at the moonless sky: they spotted wreck from several tanks and fighter craft lying around.

"Don't use the radio yet." "CF" Netto hushed.

"I know…"

The enemy fortress was simply a stone tower built inside of a square perimeter: the east and west sides had steep hills flanking them: a pair of tunnels had been built to bypass those but they were being guarded by Garuu Viruses.

"Hum… Garuus."

"They'd do nice pets."

They could also spot the wreck of several AAC guns and shield generators.

"I'll pick the west side." "CF" Netto announced.

"Then east is my stuff, then." "CF" Nelaus chuckled.

Both of them engaged tactical camouflage and crept around the grassy plains: "CF" Netto climbed the hill and looked down on the three Garuu Viruses guarding the tunnel's entrance: they seemed to be sleeping but they were paying attention to any noise.

_Let's use "friendly fire", Netto – kun._ Saito suggested.

_Heh, heh, heh! Here goes "friendly fire"!_

"CF" Netto projected a Garuu hologram and made it look like it was coming from the other side: it made some gestures to the other Viruses and they ran away to the other end of the tunnel.

_Go!_

"CF" Netto waited until the exited and silently jumped into the fray, having already drawn two Long Sword Battle Chips.

"It's nap time, you lads." He announced.

He quickly sliced the three of them up and in complete silence.

"The west tunnel is secured. How's it going over there, Nelaus?"

"I already secured it, too." "CF" Nelaus replied.

"Let's call in for the tanks to finish the job." "CF" Netto suggested.

Some tanks rolled in across the tunnels and aimed for the remaining AAC guns and shield generators: they quickly blew all of them up thus leaving the HQ exposed.

"Here comes the flying cavalry!"

Four crafts came in from the east and began to bomb the adjacent buildings which were the ammunitions depot and the weapons storehouse: "CF" Netto and "CF" Nelaus joined the fray by breaking open the main gate and entering the tower.

"Go!"

They climbed the spiral stone stair until they reached the main chamber at the topmost spot: they kicked the door open and found someone there.

"Killer Beam!"

Both of them dodged and faced Zoanoroid Dark Man of Greiga: he was already on his "Bestialized" form: he looked hostile.

"Element Flare!"

"Program Advance! Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword!"

"Program Advance! Hi – Cannon, Triple Slot In!"

"Dream… Sword!"

"Giga… Cannon!"

Both of them shot the Program Advances at the enemy and hit him fully, causing a bright light followed by a roar of agony and a brutal explosion which took out the whole of the north wall.

"Did that do it?" "CF" Netto wondered.

Zoan Dark Man was no more when the smoke cleared.

"This is Command. The enemy High Command is no more. Good job."

Both of them stood firm as the whole world dissolved back into a cybernetic world and they flew away from the "portal".

"Heh, heh, heh!"

"Talk about a good heating up!"

"And a good brain boiling…!"

"Return!"

Both of them appeared on the VR Room in the real world: the "Dimensional Area" shut off, so both of them cancelled their "Cross Fusions" and shook hands.

"Good job, Nelaus."

"What did you do to deal with the Garuus, by the way?"

"We left some cyber food in front of them and they started to eat it so we simply sliced them up while they were busy." Isaac smiled.

Netto aimed his Link PET at Saito's inert body: he yawned and stretched.

"Charlie Squad is unbeatable 'cause Ares is pulling the strings behind it!"

"And here you said you hated randomness." Netto grinned.

"Guess I've gotten used to it somehow… Sigma's been badly influencing me along with Shadow Man…"

"They gotta be playing _Mario Kart Wii_ and seeing which one will win more races in 150cc mode." Nelaus chuckled.

"Mwah, hah, hah… Hah, hah, hah… Regna Dog!"

"Another mirroring… Anger God…" Netto groaned.

"By Confucius! Where did I store my prayer beads?"

"He patched us live to Dragon – san and confirms he's TOO superstitious."

"Mwah, hah, hah … The Ninja Idiom Curse has begun! Hah, hah, hah!"

07:24 AM (Berlin Time)…

"… Indeed, _Herr General_. The testing of Phase 3 could be done just off the coast of California. We have intelligence confirming two promising targets in there."

Schneider was speaking with the enigmatic "General" over the phone on his living room.

He was sitting on a red leather armchair and facing a large wooden rectangular table with chairs around it and a large gallant lamp hanging from the ceiling.

There were balcony doors covered by curtains which allowed a view of a large garden.

There was a large bookcase containing rows of books placed to the right.

The left side of the room had several portraits of army men of different centuries.

Two large oak doors were placed behind the armchair Schneider was sitting at currently.

"That is excellent, _Herr Präsident_. I shall be waiting for more news."

Schneider picked a white rose from a vase nearby and looked at it.

"It is a symbol of elegancy. Everything must be done in an elegant manner." He muttered with a smirk.

One of the oak doors opened and a man stepped in.

He looked on his fifties, had some patches of gray hair and his eyes' irises were brown.

He wore butler attire.

"Master Schneider. The bath is ready."

"Excellent, Hans. Soon enough, I shall have achieved what no other company has been able to achieve. My company shall gain a lot of profits thanks to P.W. Heh, heh, heh… I'm fortunate, truly." Schneider muttered.

07:39 AM (Berlin Time)…

"… _Ach, so_! I understand. Thank you for the information, _Herr Doktor_. _Auf Wiedersehen_."

_Kount_ Serbauf finished a phone call made to him while he was sitting behind a desk in an office placed inside of a skyscraper somewhere.

Today he wore simple business attire.

He seemed to be thinking about something related to the phone call.

"… Mysterious weapons which show up of nowhere… Hmmm… Such top-secret projects are hard to conceal nowadays … There's always a leak somewhere… I do think these weapons weren't made by any government but by a private corporation… They must be under a contract from a government with interests in the area… There a lot of candidates…"

He engaged an interphone placed on the top rightmost corner of the polished wooden table.

"_Herr_ Arager? I would like of you to call the Ministry of Industry and request information on which Germany-based companies currently are being employed by a foreign Asia-based government." He announced.

"Indeed, _Herr Kount_. It shall be done." A man's voice replied.

_Kount_ Serbauf turned off the interphone and turned his rotating chair around to look out at the panorama of Berlin.

"Ach, so. This doesn't fare well. It could be the prelude to a new type of warfare. Damned Twilight. I suspect his stinky hands on this affair: if only we could catch them at last…"

His laptop pinged and he checked it out to frown.

"What? "Schatten Intrigant", they say? "Shadow Schemer"? _Verdamnt_! This is that _schwein_'s swine! They're eavesdropping on me and laughing at me. They shall pay for that affront! Once Herr Vadous locates you lowlife then… You're over! _Verbrecher_! Criminal!"

_I'll see to it that you end up locked up and rendered powerless! Hah!_

17:08 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Nothing here…"

"Bad luck, Miyabi…"

"I know, Shadow Man…"

"Dark Miyabi. The Court of Owls has sentenced you to… die."

"Hmpf. I was wondering when you'd show up."

Miyabi came out of a pub somewhere and began to discuss with Shadow Man when a voice rang out as he drew a _kunai_.

He turned around to see a figure standing atop the inn.

This figure wore black leather clothes which covered their whole body including a hood with goggles: it design was reminiscent of an owl's face, even.

They carried a belt spanning from the right shoulder to the left flank of the body and which had sheaths for 6 knives: it included a medallion with the drawing of an owl close to the shoulder.

Other equipment included gauntlets: the right one had metallic armor shaped like an owl's face and the left one had some sheaths for smaller knives.

They carried leather boots as well and two knife sheaths attached to the belt's waist.

The gear included two short swords' sheaths attached to his back.

"I am the Talon. I serve the Court of Owls."

"… Miyabi… A quick IR scan tells me that's a human."

"Hum. Could be some fanatic…"

The "Talon" suddenly leapt into the air and threw 10 knives at Miyabi which he partly blocked or bounced with his _kunai_ but others hit him: they drew both short swords and quickly cut across the air.

"Huh? Huh! How clever!"

Miyabi gasped when he blocked their attempt to behead him but it turned out they'd been aiming to make two diagonal cuts on his torso spreading from the edge of them to the shoulders: Miyabi drew some _shuriken_ which he threw at the attacked but they repelled them and silently _ran up a wall_ before spinning and using the inertia to try to attack Miyabi's neck but he quickly stepped back yet the attacker merely landed in a crouched position and crossed their blades as if to signal their guard was up: they suddenly began to spin them on their hands and shot them at Miyabi to get stabbed on his right hip and the left side of his waist: he pulled them out with two strings and quickly sheathed them before running for Miyabi with the 10 knives drawn.

"Hmpf." Miyabi grinned.

The figure seemed to gasp and they then slipped because oil had been scattered on the ground and was a rather frictionless surface so they slid and crashed against an empty drum which they knocked over: they rudely tossed it away and quickly ran up another wall to get atop another one-storey building and gain an advantage position.

"Miyabi… That wall-climbing thing is "van der Waals force"… Ripped from _MGS4_… This guy was sent by Twilight, alright."

"Hmpf. It was obvious from the very start. Yet… They only seem to speak English. They must be a foreigner… I'll test them."

He quickly scribbled "Dark Miyabi" in _katakana_ on a sheet of paper and showed it to the guy.

"This is a curse." He tried to intimidate him.

"Mwah, hah, hah. That's what ya would like."

Cloud Man's 3D image formed next to the guy while folding his arms and looking rather amused.

"It says "Dark Miyabi", Talon! Finish them off! Curses don't exist!"

"Roger."

"Hmpf. Come."

The "Talon" calmly spun into the air and aimed both blades for Miyabi's shoulders but he suddenly pulled a wire having an old-fashioned oil lamp on it: the lamp shattered and the suit got stained with oil.

"Evil Source!"

"_What_!"

Shadow Man materialized all of a sudden and shot a spheroid of flame at the "Talon": the suit caught fire and Cloud Man gasped.

"Damn it! Zoan Gate Man! Remote Gate: NOW! Into some nearby pool: move your ASS!" He commanded.

"R-roger! Remote Gate!"

"_I'll remember this_!"

"_Oboeteyare_." Shadow Man translated.

The "Talon" jumped inside of the "Remote Gate" and got warped while Cloud Man's 3D image sighed in relief.

"Damn it! You did it in purpose to cut the fight short because you knew that you wouldn't last much longer at that rate!"

"Hmpf. I'll applaud their pro style of being quiet and knowing how to make use of the terrain yet when I found it was a human I knew I could pull an old-fashioned trick no – one expects because it's just that: old – fashioned." Miyabi drily told him.

"The Anger God will reap your soul." Shadow Man taunted.

"Nugru~h! I'll remember this!"

The 3D image vanished too and Miyabi calmly took out bandages to wrap around the wounds which hadn't bled too much.

"Hmpf. Twilight… You want war with the Miyabi Family? You'll have it!"

"Served in a silver platter along with powder… Heh, heh, heh…"


	3. Chapter 3: Raid

**Chapter 3: Raid**

09:40 AM (Japan Time) Sunday January the 18th…

"… De masu! Heh, heh, heh!"

"Yamitarou…"

Higure Yamitarou grinned in a malicious manner as he polished his Battle Chip stock: he looked in very high spirits today.

"Remember that Mariko – sensei's younger sister forbade you from bothering her." Number Man pointed out.

"Oh! Number Man! You're outdated! De masu!" Higure laughed.

"Huh? I'm outdated?"

"Where do you think I went yesterday afternoon while I left you and Shuuko – chan in charge of the store? De masu?" Higure grinned.

"Hmmm… You're not telling me you're trying to engage Saloma – san, right?" Number Man questioned.

"Nope!"

"I doubt Miyuki – san being your type… She creeps the guts outta anyone."

"That's obvious! De masu!"

"Hmmm… Then… You must mean that new fortune-reading lady from King Land… Ms. Glassy." Number Man guessed.

"That's right! De masu! She told me she has seen a bright future ahead of us! De masu!"

"Maybe you have seen a _grim_ future instead and you have turned it upside down." Number Man sarcastically replied.

Higure then spotted a figure walking towards the door, so he adjusted his glasses and closed his eyes while he practiced his best smile.

"Good morning, de masu! Welcome to Higureya, de masu!"

"Uo~h!" A hollow shriek replied.

Higure opened his eyes and his jaw hit the floor.

The _Grim Reaper_ was in front of him.

It wore the traditional brown cloak with hood.

Two white eyes shone on the hidden face and seemed to hover above the ground.

They had a rope around its neck from which several miniature skulls floated.

It also carried the scythe.

"YEA~RGH! DE MASU~! THE GRIM REAPER, DE MASU~! MS. GLASSY~!"

Higure fainted from the sight and collapsed behind the counter, his left leg sticking out: the "Grim Reaper" vanished into thin air the entrance bell rang when someone stepped in.

"Huh… Am I dead? De masu?"

"Hullo."

Higure managed to somehow stand by leaning one arm in the counter and looking up: he spotted Charles and Martin looking down on him (literally).

"Huh… Senator Morgangantz? De masu? Blackdesu – san?" Higure slowly asked.

"Did our buddy drop by already? He sure can be fast." Charles grinned.

"He takes after my surname, you know." Martin added.

"De masu…? A hologram… You scared me, gentlemen…! De masu!"

"This looks like it's about to explode, Charles." Davis warned with a smirk.

"We should scram before the mine collapses on top of us."

"OUT! GET OUT! DE MASU! I CALL THE SHOTS! DE MASU! THIS IS _MY_ STORE! DE MASU~!"

10:24 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Man! I feel tired… I got stuck thirty minutes in a horrible bottleneck caused by that broken down traffic light…"

Hinoken came back from delivering a takeaway curry and sat on one bench, tired.

"You had misfortune, then." Iroaya Madoi commented.

"Have some water, _by George_! The last thing we need is someone dehydrating in here…" Count Elec told him as handed him a jar of water and a glass.

"Take it easy, comrades." Maha Jarama smiled as he popped out from inside the kitchen.

"I hope I'm not going to be told pointless jokes again this time around…"

"Huh? When was the last time?" Colored Man asked.

"That Shadow Man person came in and told me we could get rabbits for free by taking off my hat…" Magic Man sighed again.

"What a lame joke…" Elec Man commented, unimpressed.

"At least Hinoken – sama is no longer obsessed over beating up Freeze Man."

"I'm going to run some errands at Internet City… See you later, guys."

"Beware of Freeze Man's 3D specter."

"Man! If Hinoken gets a hold of it then there'll be no stoppin' him!"

"Blurt and blurt!" Dr. Wily made up a pun.

"Dr. Wily – sama! Grant me permission to BLOW UP that ASSHOLE!"

"How can you blow up a 3D image, Hinoken?"

"Huh! I forgot… Damned asshole!"

"Hinoken – sama… I saw it coming 5 miles away, really."

10:35 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Say, Roll – chan…"

"What's up, Felicia – chan?"

Felicia and Roll were walking down an Internet City avenue and talking amongst themselves.

"It's never struck you as odd?" Felicia suddenly asked her.

"What has?" Roll frowned.

"Sigma – san and Blood – kun… They have the tendency to disappear from the map at some point in weekends… They are out of range of any call and so is Isaac – kun." Felicia commented.

"Now that you mention it… I had noticed this tendency over the years… I've only know Isaac – kun ever since September, but he seems to have joined that tendency… Maybe they go to some underground place where there isn't much signal." Roll commented, frowning.

"You've never though they're into some kind of complot?"

"Please… They're Net Saviors, as you know very well. It could simply be that they're in Net Savior missions." Roll shrugged.

"Of! I hadn't thought of that!"

An explosion rang out close by: everyone looked at the skies to see a vast number of those mysterious unidentified fighting craft shooting lasers and concussion missiles around.

"Ah! Run for it!" Roll gasped.

"You needn't tell me twice!"

Both of them ran away into a side alley and bumped into someone: Colored Man.

"Colored Man! Do you have any idea of what's going on around here?"

"Dunno! Madoi~! Get me outta 'ere~!"

10:38 AM (Japan Time)…

"… OK! The cavalry came!"

"Someone called the _Sheriff_?"

"Hmpf. These things…"

"They match the description."

"So these are the TIE imitations."

"As expected of Twilight…"

"Mwah, hah, hah… Raith Seinar's evil stepbrother did them!"

"Shut up, Sigma."

Davis, Martin, Shadow Man, Blues, Search Man, Blood Shadow, Sigma and Isaac entered Internet City to find that the majority of the craft had vanished and only about two or three of them were left.

"They must be pulling out… It looks like it's a hit-and-run raid. Let's try to secure one of them for analysis." Search Man suggested.

"Roger!"

All of them split and climbed up the most intact buildings to secure a view and try to jump on top of the craft: more crafts suddenly appeared out of nowhere and began to bombard the Net Saviors with laser and missiles: they gasped and began to dodge.

"Counterattack!" Search Man instructed.

"Evil Source!"

"Sonic Boom!"

"Charged shotgun shot!"

"Sigma Sword!"

"Justice Cannon!"

"Bullet Maze!"

"Scope Gun!"

"Radius Explosion!"

The majority of attack failed to meet their targets because the craft maneuvered at the last second and performed a barrel loop to dodge before continuing their bombardment of the Net Saviors: the attacks which did connect did little to the thick armor of the crafts.

"Shit! We'll need something else!" Sigma cursed.

"Search Man! Boss wants to deploy an experimental weapon. If anyone asks please say it's a new JSDF weapon!" Blood Shadow told Search Man.

"Go ahead!" Search Man authorized.

Purple streaks of lighting began to fall from equally purple clouds: the crafts began to move eerily and seemed to be lacking concise maneuvering.

"Now! Pick them off!"

Before they could jump off the spot they were at, the crafts suddenly self-deleted, leaving no data behind: the purple clouds dissipated and no other craft could be seen in the area.

"By the Motherland! I'd stake anything that those things were the ones which hit the Choina base yesterday."

"Did you see how they dodged our moves? It's almost as if they knew what kind of moves we possessed…"

"That's it! That's what the FOD had to do! They had to collect our combat data to make it available to these things so they could give us one hell of a time!" Blood Shadow realized.

"It makes sense. The main problem will be finding out the instigators."

"By Texas! I'm so gonna throw 'em up into the brig!" Lander grumbled.

"I'd rather send 'em to Bert Saxby's overcrowded abode."

"Jeez. That joke's outdated, Sigma."

"Hmpf. If those bastards won't come out then we shall force them to come out." Shadow Man commented.

"I think that Kanero knew something about the instigators so that's why one of the FOD gave him the passport." Miyabi commented.

"Problem is: are they really southern Sharo radical activists or were the transmissions directed there to make us think that? And at what extent is Twilight involved?" Enzan wondered aloud.

"No silly old-school bunch of dissatisfied scientists and military men would be able to build such things. They must be worth a whole year's budget for the Army." Laika exposed.

"I doubt it being the work of those Burma military dudes." Netto ventured.

"We investigated them a little way ago: they have their own internal struggles, but, aside from that, they don't seem to be capable of producing such weapons." Charles replied.

"This could - mind you, _could_ - be the work of one Gulf state..." Martin suggested.

"It's a possibility. We'll discuss it over in the next Justice Council meeting."

"Let's scram." Laika suggested.

"Scram & cram."

They spotted Zoan Gate Man standing atop a building along with 18 Mettools numbered from number 32 to 50: he sounded amused and cocky as the same time.

"Look who showed up." Saito muttered.

"Mwah, hah, hah! Hah, hah, hah! Soon all of you lowlifes will be turned into memories to be implanted into lesser humans… Such is the will of the Life-shaper and the Council! Let the Composer be engaged!" Twilight's voice boomed out.

"The guy's spoiling us, as usual… Let's forget them and get outta here already."

09:51 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… Our _Bifrosts_ have done a very good job."

"It went over our initial expectations, even."

Half a dozen persons were sitting next to a round wooden table and watching the footage being displayed by a large LCD screen inside of an unlit room: a man and a woman had spoken insofar.

"I told you guys people that it was necessary to add the self-deletion program to them. It's a small price to pay taking into account that we can easily mass-produce more of them." A second man's voice reminded the group.

"What did you think of it, Bella?" A third man's voice asked

"Beautiful." A second woman's voice, apparently belonging to the person named Bella, replied.

"However… We didn't see THE Rock Man in there." A fourth man's voice commented.

"It matters not. We are aware that his capacities of evolving and gaining new abilities are what have allowed him to survive, but he doesn't necessarily have to show up always. He'll do appear when the time is right. Mr. Twilight told us they're no opponent to be looked down upon and I'm sure he wasn't kidding." Bella sounded like she was shrugging.

"Scorpion: have you made any progress recovering anything from Atomic Network's mainframe?" One of the men asked.

"No, Meta. It's a total wreck. The only things I have managed to compose together are some random initials… "K. O.", "D. P.", "H. N"', "H. S.", "V.", "S. S.", "A. M.", "I. M."… I have run a detailed analysis. Mind you, Meta: most of those initials have too much common appliances to find out their identity… And I _do_ think Mr. Twilight knows what they mean but he's making us sweat to figure it out." Scorpion reported.

"What were you expecting? It was totally fried by that brutal concentration of EMPs. And also… _No pain_, _no gain_."

"I'm not saying I didn't know it, Viper. Take "S. S.", for example… "Sailing Ship", "South Sudan"… And let's not talk about "K. O."… "Knock Out" is the only result I can find." Scorpion sounded resigned.

"Viper: don't try to turn Scorpion into a scapegoat just because you want to." Meta complained.

"Scorpion – sama does not deserve this after the hard work he has been done." One of the men complained.

"Come on, Cobra! I'm sure that Meta – dono is not aiming to crackpot on him." Bella told them.

"Hmpf. As long as I'm called Vulture… I shall follow Meta – sama's orders no matter what." Another man's voice scoffed.

"In any case! The products of our contract are proving to be good enough. Let us continue with it." Meta tried to impose order.

"OK, _bad boy_." Viper teased.

"Save your teasing for someone else." Meta fumed.

"My input in the FOD project was magnificent… I'm wondering if those two _bad boys_ had nightmares after that… Seeing a full-rate dungeon is enough to set the fear in anyone, be it man or woman…"

"Jeez. You're creepy." Scorpion grumbled.

"Totally. Bella. Can't you do anything else?" Cobra complained.

"Hmpf. Whatever. They're useful when the usual "debriefing" strategy fail: 1 hour there and they spit everything out." Vulture shrugged.

"Speaking of which, I got told we've got a customer… Let's go show them around how foolish it is to try to play tax evasion, Bella."

"Roger, Viper – sama. _Good luck, bad boys_."

She and Viper giggled as they walked out of the room while the other four seemed to be fed up with her jokes.

"Women…" The other four sighed.

11:05 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Well. Home, sweet home."

"And sweetie home-made chocolate."

"Hah, hah, hah. How original, Isaac."

"Wasn't it?"

Nelaus walked towards his home and began to unlock the front entrance: he heard footsteps walking towards him from behind.

"Nelaus – ku~n!" A familiar voice called out.

Nelaus slowly turned around, being totally unimpressed, to meet with Aura: he was used to her sudden appearances even if they'd only known each other for around a month.

"Oh. Good morning, Aura – chan."

"Say! Can we talk 'bout a little thing?" Aura asked.

"Sure. Come in."

Aura walked into the house and sat on one of the living room's sofas while Nelaus fetched some tea and prepared it: he deposited the platter on the table and served both cups.

"Say, Nelaus – kun… You _do_ know what happened a while ago in Internet City, right?" Aura went straight to the point.

"Yeah. Some remote-controlled unmanned craft went around in a "hit-and-run" raid. When we faced them, they dodged us. We had to resort a tactical EMP pulse but they suddenly self-deleted and left not even one scarce piece behind. We're clueless as to where they came out from to begin with." Nelaus admitted as he drank his tea.

"Say… What happened yesterday? Netto – kun and Saito – kun came to visit you and you quickly left in a car which had come to pick you up… Was it Net Savior stuff?" Aura asked.

_Crap. Better improve._

"Oh. Yeah. We had to deal with a cache of illegal weapons. All controls had been sabotaged via the Cyber World so it involved us. By using a "Dimensional Area" and our "Cross Fusion" tech… We quickly rounded the guys up." Nelaus calmly replied.

"Did they look like _Yakuza_ people?" Felicia asked Isaac.

"No. They looked like they were from Thailand to me." Isaac shrugged and didn't seem to care about it.

"I've heard a rumor, though… Some say something happened at the Gobi desert…" Aura began saying.

"Bah. It's a rumor, Aura – chan. You don't have to believe them unless the source of it is reliable."

"Hmmm… By the way… Do you know who was behind this "hit-and-run" raid?"

"Nope. We have several suspects… To build up such stuff takes a lot of money. It has to be a whole state financing the stuff. We have a lot of candidates."

"Say… Are you a box of secrets?"

"Everyone is." Nelaus quickly replied as if trying to shift the conversation.

"If you don't want to talk about something bad, then it's okay. I just feel like there's a lot of tension in the air." Aura replied.

"Don't you feel the same thing, Isaac – kun?"

"No. It was far more tension-filled three months ago when Atomic Network was around."

"That's how it is, then?" Felicia smiled.

"Sorry?" Isaac didn't seem to have caught on.

"Oh… It's nothing! Forget it."

"Say… If we don't have much stuff to do next week, we could go the theater… They're airing a nice film with a lot of good reviews."

"Sure." Nelaus immediately replied.

"… Are you plotting something, perhaps?"

"What would I gain from it? I'm a Net Savior, remember? I'm supposed to bring out complots to the surface and break them."

"Sorry! It was a silly thing to say… As always, thanks for the tea, Nelaus – kun. See you around!"

"Bye - bye!"

Aura came out of Nelaus' house and walked away while singing a tune: Nelaus picked the teapot, cups and platter and brought them into the kitchen to clean them.

"… Is it me or are they stalking us?" Isaac asked him.

"Somehow, that wouldn't surprise me."

"If you say so…" Isaac still seemed to have your doubts.

"Think as you want, Isaac. We're buddies, after all. We share each other's problems." Nelaus replied.

"Thanks for the reassurance. I'll go check the inbox. I'll be back in a min."

"Go ahead: maybe Sigma came up with a new joke of his."

"As long as it's not incredibly stupid…"

"We can bear with it…"

"Mwah, hah, hah. Did ya call for trouble and scale~?"

"Sigma. You were listening in?" Isaac complained.

"Nah! I set a warning whenever my name was brought up, see~!" Sigma laughed next.

"Huff. Go pound some junk."

"Junk Man will complain!"

"Who's Junk Man?"

"He Who Lives In Thee Mind."

Shadow Man showed up next and Isaac slapped his forehead out of pure exasperation.

"Not you too."

"Did we tell you the "Talon" was a human?"

"What? And here I thought they were a program."

"It'd seem Twilight was intending to confuse us by using an exact copy in the Cyber World." Shadow Man let out.

"Where'd he dig that freak from?"

"Dunno. Maybe from Byss?"

"Byss? Where's that at?" Nelaus wondered.

"… Huff. It's a planet: the fortress world in Galactic Deep Core which Palpatine used as HQ after the Battle of Endor."

"Mwah, hah, hah… Maybe he's former Red Guard!"

"Sure, sure." Isaac felt skeptical.

"Metto! Tto~!"

"Oh crap."

They whipped around to see 4 Mettols with their numbers ranging from "5" to "9" standing there: they quickly scrambled into a Remote Gate which vanished.

"Heck. Ex-_senpai_'s turning into an eavesdropper." Nelaus cursed.

"Huff! It ain't easy to search Melbourne either: we're doing all we can to narrow down on them!" Sigma complained next.

"Hmpf… Stray mice… Let them wander in confusion and blindness…"

"Twilight! We'll find out to what end you're involved into this murky tale: that I promise you!" Isaac hissed.

12:23 PM (Melbourne Time)…

"… Master? I'm back."

"Ah! Philip. Good, good."

"I'm sorry for my failure."

"Bah! Even I could've fallen for that. Don't think about it, Darth Bapgei."

"Roger."

A young man stepped into the foyer of a house somewhere in Melbourne and took off his white sneakers to head further in.

He could be about a meter and sixty tall or maybe a bit taller.

His hair was jet black and he had green emerald irises.

He simply wore a sleeveless black t-shirt, brown shorts and had switched to slippers.

"I'm in the living room."

"Are there any news?"

"Well. "They" tested the _Bifrosts_ in Japan Internet City… They worked splendidly: guess Raith Sienar tuned them well."

"But I thought that…"

"I know. It's a joke. Raith Sienar is the TIE designer."

Philip stepped into the living room which had a sofa facing north towards two windows looking out at the street from ground level and which had the curtains over them plus a table: a laptop was set atop it.

A man was sitting on the sofa.

He could be about a meter and eighty tall or a bit taller.

He had a black suit over a white shirt, a black tie and pants along with shoes.

His hair was blonde and his eyes' irises were green emerald too.

"I'll go gear myself."

"Good. Today I'll risk 20 minutes at the table."

"Hmmm… The table…" He seemed eager.

"Heh. Eager to test it out? Good, good. That's my proud apprentice speaking, Darth Bapgei."

"Thank you very much, Master Twilight."

"Go, Philip…"

Philip left the living room while Twilight hummed a tune as he worked with the PC: Zoan Gate Man showed up there.

"They still think the "Talon" is some freak you dug out of some cult or sect somewhere." He reported.

"Good. That's the impression I wanted to leave."

"By the way… Why aren't we telling those guys what the initials in Atomic Network's mainframe mean?"

"Hah! _No pain no gain_. You gotta sweat to achieve what you want."

"Guess that. Should we edit something in Deadly Pandora's servers?"

"Change Nelaus' back-story for something else and write off Rock Man's true colors. Say that he and Hikari Saito are two separate persons and that Rock Man tried to look up to him hence why he resembles him. They don't deserve to know… They shouldn't get their hands on this info which is the reason I exist today…"

"Huh? Well… I really don't know what it means but it's not my place to question things. I'll deal with that ASAP before they think of trying to check that place… I'll place some bottomless pits ripped out _Mario Bros. DX _and Koppa to keep them busy. Later."

"Heh, heh, heh… Zoan Gate Man has practical ideas."

"I never said he didn't, Freeze Man. Those fools will be beating around the bush and the deal will elude them… Heh… Heh, heh… Hah, hah, hah!"


	4. Chapter 4: Nibelung

**Chapter 4: **_**Nibelung**_

14:24 PM (San Francisco Time), Monday January the 19th …

"… Man. This ship is slower than a snail. We're gonna take the whole day to reach our destination… I wish something happened to kill the boredom, anyway…"

A Private was leaning over the handrail of an aircraft's carrier starboard side and boringly looking at the sea.

"The _S. S. Utah… _Cruising 40 km west of San Francisco… We're gonna have some drills and training exercises… Two battleships escort us… But I'm bored and the others only play Trumps."

He frowned as he spotted some irregular shapes travelling parallel to the _Utah._

"I'm seeing things… Unless it's a big fish nothing could match our current speed…" He muttered.

Something jumped out of the water all of sudden and broke through the observation window using its own body mass and inertia: the Private recoiled, taken aback.

"W-WHAT?"

He was facing a strange machine: it had a central spheroid body with two red "eyes" on it and some small hatches.

Four legs which ended in five-toed claws emerged from the central body.

It had a kind of inverted-cone-shaped object on the underneath of the body which was spinning and it was apparently its propulsion helix or turbine.

"W-we're being boarded!" The Private ran off yelling.

He entered an adjacent room where some other soldiers were playing Poker.

"Shut the trap up, Joe. You always dream things." One rudely snapped.

"But I…!"

"Shaddup."

Joe didn't get to finish his phrase as the machine suddenly jumped into his back and tackled him to the ground: it opened one small hatch and took out a stun gun-like extension which it used to knock him out.

"Uack!"

The four remaining soldiers quickly stood up and took out their standard service guns.

"What's that?" One uttered.

"Dunno!" A second replied.

"Hey! L-look behind it!" A third signaled.

About five more of those things had shown up behind the first one.

"No way!"

All of them jumped like they were live animals and attached to the faces of the soldiers, only to stun gun them a second later: they advanced without meeting any obstacle until they emerged into the deck.

"Sir! Are those devices ours?" One Lieutenant asked a Commander.

"No!" The Commander quickly replied.

"We're being attacked! Scramble alert! T'is ain't a drill! All men: report to your posts! Pick your weapons!" A voice warned.

Various soldiers carrying machineguns emerged and began to shoot at the mechanized attackers: they all skillfully dodged the bullets via some skillful and acrobatic movements which looked like some kind of dance: the attackers would stun gun them whenever someone ran out of ammo.

"DIE, DIE, DIE!" One hysterical soldier roared: he unloaded his full clip.

The machine merely kept its legs firm on the ground and moved its central body to avoid the random shots.

"Shit!"

The soldier soon ran out of bullets and was stunned by the machine.

"Uack!"

The Admiral in charge was baffled while looking at it from the command bridge.

"This is Admiral Smithson! HQ: we're being attacked! We need-!"

Admiral Smithson didn't get to finish as one thing jumped towards the bridge and broke through the bulletproof glass using its kinetic energy.

"Huh! Eat bullets!"

Admiral Smithson took out a gun and tried to shoot at it, but it had no result: he, too, was knocked out.

"Ugruck!"

The rest of the crew didn't fare any better.

"Gurah!"

The whole crew had been stunned in less than fifteen minutes and the group of twelve machines was totally unscratched.

"Beep – beep – beep."

They walked across the deck and jumped into the water.

"Get closer to the _Utah_!"

"Quick!"

The escort ships maneuvered to get close to the _Utah_ and some soldiers used rope and hooks to board the _Utah_ and bring it to a halt.

"What the heck happened? I see spent ammo but no blood and no wounds!" One soldier wondered.

"Heck. I'm a 9 year veteran and I'd never seen anything like it either."

"Who or WHAT did THIS?"

05:55 AM (Mongolia Time), Tuesday January the 20th…

"… Well. Our _Nibelungs_ did a splendid job. It's been proven that they can easily maneuver on water and then use a jet to jump out and board any ship… Even those experienced Marines were no match for them."

"Bravo."

The six unidentified figures were seated around the round table and commenting upon the attack on the _Utah_, which had by now made it to the TV and radio media across the world.

"How's the data retrieval going like, Scorpion?" Meta asked.

"I found some new data… It's another set of initials… "N. R.", "I.", "S. T.", "S.", "B. S.", "O.", "C. M.", "D. H."… I'm pending running a check to see if I can find any matches…" Scorpion replied.

"However… One of that set of initials… "S. T."… It rings a bell somewhere. I'm sure we'll find out what they stand for soon enough." Cobra added.

"That's splendid, dears." Bella told them.

"Stop acting like a megalomaniac." Vulture grumbled.

"You should stop being a sadist." Bella shot back.

"Bella! Don't pick up fights." Viper commanded.

"Vulture! Ignore her." Meta commanded.

"Good. We only need to test out the V. Net Navis next before we wrap up our business." Meta announced as if to switch topics.

"You still thing you'll be able to do THAT?" Scorpion asked.

"You know me. I never desist." Viper giggled.

"Go your own half-way, then." Scorpion shot back.

"Let's go "interview" that suspect." Viper announced with a hint of evil to her voice.

"Roger, Viper – sama. It'll be worth our time, Mistress."

11:02 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Well. I had the breakfast so I better go unload…"

Netto came out of his classroom and waited in the corridor next to the restrooms because all stalls were being used: he failed to see an invisible figure hanging from the ceiling and crawling across it.

"Oi! Netto!"

"What, Dekao?"

"I beat Arushi!"

"Arushi Masuko, the 3-B transfer student? You're lying."

"Huh! What gave me away?"

"He never does Net Battles and he's got an automated simplistic Navi to do most of the mandatory tasks… You've already said 5 times that he's a "no-one" and you didn't give a cent for him."

Dekao rushed up to Netto while grinning but he glared back with a totally skeptical look.

_Arushi, you say~? I know the guy~… Heh, heh, heh. _

"If you don't have anything better to do but boast then go try to find the "treasure" in Internet City."

"Hah! It's gotta be on that store place!"

"That wasn't a real store: it was to hide the Warp Point to somewhere else: go collect lilies and offer them to Meiru – chan."

"Heh, heh, heh!"

Dekao ran off and Netto entered a stall: he locked it but then the figure silently dropped atop him and brought him to the ground: they took out a stun gun and hit his neck thus stunning him.

_Hmpf. Too easy! You guys underestimate us too much. Now let's get moving: we've got 20 minutes' time to operate… Heh, heh, heh._

12:05 PM (Melbourne Time)…

_Huh…? I'm geared up… This feeling… The column? Oh. I remember: Saito – niisan and Tooru – kun agreed with my idea to visit a closed down dungeon and try the stuff out. I can feel it already pumping into me and maybe I fell asleep because I didn't sleep enough last evening._

Netto woke up to realize he was sitting in his knees and that he had some gear on his body.

This gear consisted on some leather bands set on his body: they formed a pyramidal shape with a stripe splitting them in half: another two bands arched over his shoulders and connected with the band circling his upper body.

He also had a thick leather collar where the apex of the "pyramid" was attached at.

His legs were strapped to a metallic platform using adjustable leather bands.

He had a blindfold on and had a plastic spheroid with some holes on it placed over his mouth: a leather band circled around his head to keep it on place.

His cock's base had a round leather band into which another three placed south, west and east spread and tightened his balls.

Other stuff included a pair of clothes pegs connected by a string and clipped to his nipples and two sets of two capsule-shaped vibrators above and below his nipples: their controller was strapped to his right hip while the controller for another bell-shaped vibrator set on his cock's head was strapped to the left hip.

He could feel his main torso strapped to a cylindrical metallic column using two leather bands.

The other feeling was that of a piston pumping two thick vibrators spinning upon their axis into his ass without slowing down.

_Feels like it's tickling… After the "endurance" thing back in 2005…_

He suddenly felt how someone removed the spheroid and stuffed a cock into his mouth: he instinctively began to suck and lick it with eagerness as he outstretched his head: two hands gripped his head from behind and began to move it to set a pace.

… _I've become rather perverted along with Saito – niisan and we convinced Tooru – kun to join us in weekly all-guys threesomes… We used vibrators and clothes pegs to spice it up but we didn't tie each other… We were getting bored of the same routine so we've decided to increase the level and try some real S&M… And I don't regret it: Tooru – kun's cock which I've gotta be sucking now feels as good as ever._

He kept on licking and sucking the cock while he felt how the piston pumped faster and deeper: he then noticed how someone pulled a string connecting his clothes pegs and he inwardly gasped.

_Yeah! This feeling's good! Bully me more, Tooru – kun. I guess Saito – niisan's gotta be pumping into your rosy ass too. Heh, heh, heh. This column thing does feel good… Guess I'll always be grateful to Forte and Shirakami for unlocking the doors to this world which knows no age limits: as long as we do it guy on guy then it's no problem. But! The only S&M I tolerate is the "friendly" one. I know Enzan began to get ideas and geared me up while having sex with him from time to time but he only keeps me tied to the bed: that's all. He's soft. The kind of S&M I despise is what Twilight's boss, Anaya Maria, did on the "Palace"… Guys and girls abused of by creeps without rest until they broke down… Most of them are still going through therapies to try to at least have a normal life and interact with others… It's been over 4 years since she got "dethroned"… _

The cock inside of his mouth released and filled his mouth up: he swallowed the stuff up and the spheroid got placed into his mouth again while someone rubbed his cock.

_Teasing me? I guess Tooru – kun is about to unplug me._

He felt how the bands around the base of his cock got loosened before the beads inside of his urethra and the bell-shaped object got pulled out.

_Whoa! Here I go~! Get ready to be showered, Tooru – kun! Whoa!_

11:23 AM (Japan Time)…

"…kun… tto – kun… Netto – kun!"

"Huh! What, where?"

"Are you alright? Do you have stomachaches?"

"Huh… No… I dozed off."

"Jeez. Break will be over in 6 minutes!"

Netto suddenly woke up to realize he'd been sitting in the WC and he'd apparently finished unloading given how the cover had been lowered: his pants were buckled and all and Saito was knocking on the door from the outside.

"_Hai~_… I'm coming out. Sorry."

Netto flushed the toilet and came out to find Saito: he looked slightly worried.

"Are you really OK?"

"I dozed off!"

"Ah. Then you shouldn't have been reading _tankobons_ until it was past midnight." He scolded.

"I know…" He grumbled.

"Meiru – chan! I'll invent Rose Man!"

"Hmpf. No need to. Improve Guts Man's AI first. Ask Meijin – san to help you."

"Tee, heh, heh. Rose Man? Why not." Aura giggled.

"I'd rather invoke Sky Mower Man." Yaito giggled next.

"Please…" Nelaus was skeptical.

"How silly." Hikawa muttered with some annoyance.

"Totally." The twins drily muttered.

16:53 PM (Japan Time)…

"… What? Some unidentified weapons assaulted an Ameroupe aircraft carrier and left the whole crew K. O.?"

"You heard it well."

Netto and Saito were talking about the news Saito had heard over the TV a while before.

"Could they be related to the same weapons which hit a Choina army base and Internet City?"

"They sure look like it. These ones seemed to be designed to cruise underwater and fighting onboard ships."

"Hmmm… Then… There should be some kind of machine skilled at fighting in the ground in any terrain next, shouldn't it?" Blood Shadow suggested.

"If they're a pile of scrap, then I'm gonna send 'em straight to the junkman's!" Sigma laughed.

"Remember how skillful those flying machines were. It won't be a walk into the park."

"I find it odd, though… They only resorted to knock out the crew and dodge their shots... They didn't try to inflict major structural damage to the ship or try to attack the other ships… They must've been taking part in a test drive so as to make sure they work like they're supposed to do and weren't intended to do anything else apart from that…" Saito brought a hand to his chin.

"It sure sounds like it."

Netto's Link PET suddenly rang.

"Who is calling me, Sigma?" Netto asked.

"Hmmm… Prefix 49… That's Germany." Sigma announced.

"Do we know anyone in Germany, Saito – niisan?"

"Not as far as I can recall… Maybe it's a mistake?" Saito replied.

"It won't hurt to reply. Sigma: you can be interpreter. Right?"

"Sure."

Netto pressed the button to patch the call in: there was some static on the line and no video.

"Hello? Am I speaking to Herr Hikari Netto?" A German-accented voice asked in Japanese.

"Hum… That is me. Who are you?"

"Ach, so! Forgive my manners… I am _Kount_ Kamiel Serbauf. I am a member of the Council of Armies… I suppose you gentlemen know about us, right?" _Kount_ Serbauf introduced himself.

"Ah! Dr. Spimer told us about you, _Herr Kount_… You are the head of an important military equipment manufacturing company…"

"Correct. I called you directly because I could not contact either _Herr _Vadous or _Herr Doktor _Spimer… I have some hints that these so-famous weapons have been manufactured here, on Germany." _Kount_ Serbauf explained.

"Is that so? Do you know who is financing them?" Saito inquired.

"Ach, so! No, I do not know as of yet. I shall call _Herr _Vadous or _Herr Doktor_ once I have more information… It was nice meeting you gentlemen... _Auf Wiedersehen_."

"I find it curious that _Herr Kount_ wasn't able to reach either Vadous – san or Dr. Spimer…" Netto commented.

"Knowing Vadous – san, he could've been overworking again and Dr. Lartes told him to take a break. Dr. Spimer could've been busy with some lab experiment."

"It's not crazy."

"Crazy Man He Who Drives You Crazy Spoke." Sigma laughed.

"Jeez."

17:17 PM (Mongolia Time)…

"… By all the…!"

"What is the matter, Scorpion – sama?"

"Look at this!"

Scorpion signaled some information on a laptop's screen: the light from the screen illuminated him.

He was a man on his early thirties with a three-day beard and about a meter and eighty tall.

His eyes' irises were brown and his hair was died gray.

He wore olive green military attire without any medals or distinctions of rank.

"Look at THIS, I say!"

"Huh?"

A Net Navi was standing at a respectful distance behind his right shoulder and could be one or two inches taller than him.

He had yellow eyes shaped like a cobra's pupils.

His body was mainly colored brown with some cobra-like skin shaped like rings around his forearms and legs: his main body was covered in skin similar to a cobra's.

The shoulders were spheroids with the word "Cobra" written there using Cyrillic characters colored olive green.

His arms and elbows had some varying and mixing shades of brown, green and blue mixed at random across them.

The forearms were black and his fingers contained fake nails which glowed with a purplish dust as if they'd been colored in purpose.

He sported a black leather belt with a Battle Chip case attached to the right side of it and a service revolver on its left side.

His legs and knees used the same color patterns as in the arms but they included yellow where blue and green mixed.

The boots were black too and they had some purplish sparkling dust scattered across their surface.

His emblem was the head of a cobra with its fangs open and the Cyrillic symbol for "C" was placed inside of the cobra's mouth.

"Top – Secret… Secret Service 4th Department Former Agent… Then, that's…!" Cobra began to ready only to gasp in surprise.

"That's it! This guy died years ago! Why does he show up as part of the remaining info on Atomic Network's server? This reeks! Cobra!"

"Truly. Scorpion – sama. Should we tell Meta – dono and Vulture about it?"

"Not yet. Meta dislikes incomplete info. I need to try to patch up more info. However… It now looks like the guy behind Atomic Network was not a commoner." Scorpion replied.

"The situation has made a turn… But it would it be a turn for the best or for the worse?" Cobra commented.

"It's too early to know for sure… Maybe by matching initials to people involved in the Atomic Network affair, I will be able to find out who they are." Scorpion told him.

"What should I do, Scorpion – sama?" Cobra requested.

"Grab any spare laptop and work on the same stuff. Between the two of us… We should be able to compose a nice list for Meta and have it ready for tomorrow." Scorpion ordered.

"Roger, Scorpion – sama."

Cobra saluted and Scorpion made a dismissing gesture as he walked out of the room: he began to impatiently tap the edges of the desk.

"Twilight! You're one sneaky "collaborator"… I agree that you were useful to program the FOD Navis but…! You hide way too much stuff!"

08:48 AM (Iceland Time)…

"… Hmmm… That's how it is, then…"

A man was standing inside of a metallic room which was shaped like the lower right quarter of a circle: the ceiling had some fluorescent lights installed on it.

The only exits or entrances were two metallic sliding doors placed at each rectangular wall.

A square metallic table covered in blueprints and rough sketches was placed against the north wall.

Two hologram projectors replaying footage recorded by the _Utah_'s onboard cameras were placed at its right.

"Hum. Replay."

The man looked on his late twenties or early thirties and could be over a meter and eighty tall.

His hair was combed in a neat manner and it was colored in an orange-like coloring while his eyes' irises were blue.

He had reading glasses on.

The man currently wore a white lab coat over a shirt, brown pants and shoes.

He carried an ID clipped to the right side of his coat which read "DR. PIERRE SPIMER: HEAD OF CYPHER SYNDICATE".

Dr. Spimer looked immersed in some notes and annotations which appeared next to each part of the assaulting machines.

"It's obvious! The material must be lightweight for it to be able to jump out like that and travel so close to the surface… It also makes sense if they plan on mass-producing them. They're programmed with the speed of different handguns and machineguns so that they know how to avoid the projectiles. Continuous hammering of it could break it down, I'm sure of that."

The footage switched to the raid on Internet City by those mysterious fighter craft: notes and annotations appeared on several still frames where the craft could be seen with clearness.

"The same logic must apply to these as well. If the manufacturer is German, it must be taking into account the current economical crisis and must be aiming at low costs… However, I am sure that they're designed to be semi-resistant to EMP weapons… And something tells me that they can self-destroy if hit by an EMP weapon… The guys behind this are obsessed in leaving no trails, huh?"

Dr. Spimer took out a remote and disengaged the holographic projector before he walked towards the west wall and opened the door.

"Huff."

He ended up in a rectangular room which had two rectangular parallel walls with a single door set on each one: the north wall had a diagram showing a circle divided on four curved pieces with four rectangular pieces set between each portion: the south wall had a wooden vertical rectangle wall set on it and a switch at its right.

"… _Qu'est – ce que c'est que cette sombre historie de armes non identifies..?"_ Dr. Spimer muttered under his breath.

_Huff! What exactly is this whole shadowy tale about unidentified weapons? WHO finances them? What's Twilight's role in this?_

He pressed the switch and the wooden wall moved backwards by following some rails and then to the left, revealing another room.

"Phew."

Dr. Spimer stepped inside and the fake bookcase returned to its place soon enough: the room was square, its walls were metallic and so were the floor and the ceiling.

There was polished wood desk which had a closed laptop on top of it as well as an interphone system: the desk also contained several drawers and there were several papers piled in the top left-hand corner.

A pot with several pencils and pens was placed nearby.

There were two leather armchairs most likely reserved for visits in front of the desk.

The room itself looked like an office: it had a set of five bookcases which occupied the whole length of the north wall.

The left wall was largely bare except for a custom-made light support design and an air duct cover.

The right wall had another identical light and a canvas of the Eiffel Tower.

The south wall just had the entry/exit mahogany door.

"Oh well…"

He glanced at a seal in a document's NE corner.

The seal depicted two swords clashing together and creating a cross-shaped flash of light.

A volcano could be seen erupting in the background and a rain of lava surrounded the scene.

Each sword was being wielded by two arms covered in armor.

The letters "CYPHER" were engraved on the rim in a red color.

"How ironic…" He muttered.

Dr. Spimer sat down on the armchair and opened one drawer from which e took out a cell phone which he turned on: he dialed a number and awaited response.

"Hello?" A man's voice asked.

"Dr. Lartes? _C'est moi, Doctor Spimer_." Dr. Spimer announced.

"Ah! Dr. Spimer… Did you find out something else?" Dr. Lartes asked him.

"Apart from the fact that the things are being manufactured in Germany… I've deduced that they're semi-resistant to EMPs and include a self – destruct mechanism. The metal must be very thin."

"Hum."

"The reason they were dodging bullets most of the time must be because a whole clip from a machinegun could very well destroy them. They're programmed with the average speeds of guns so they know how to dodge them." Dr. Spimer explained as he distractedly toyed with a pen he was holding in his right hand.

"It's like the "hover tanks" Boss had designed… He, however, purposefully placed a weakness on them in case the enemy was to use them against us…" Dr. Lartes commented.

"I'd thought of the same thing. Unfortunately, I doubt ever capturing an intact model for dissection. We'll have to make guesses."

"That's obvious."

"If anything else urgent were to happen… Please inform me. Ms. Argad has told me the NSA has started looking into the affair. Washington is boiling with activity. The DIA, FBI and CIA are going to look into it, too. Nobody likes finding out an aircraft carrier was attacked and that nobody has claimed responsibility for it."

"_Clichéd_." Dr. Lartes sarcastically replied.

"_Oui, c'est un cliché sans dout_."

"This has the looks of something _clichéd_."

"We shall be in contact. _Au revoir_."

"_Au revoir_."

Dr. Spimer closed the phone cell's lid and placed it on a drawer: he leant back on his armchair and sighed.

"Do they want war? They shall have war, then…"

"Dr. Spimer? Sorry to bother you but we repelled 22 Mettols." The interphone buzzed and someone reported.

"Hmpf. Speaking of evil and devil… Just keep on repelling them."

18:19 PM (Japan Time)…

"… You freaking idiot! What do you understand by "criteria", huh? Answer me!"

"You Foreign Department people are all the same: always seeing trouble on what we do."

A woman was talking with someone via a phone while standing near a desk filled with documents inside of a dimly-lit room.

She appeared to be on her late twenties and close to a meter and eighty tall.

She had short blond hair and blue eyes.

She wore olive green military attire with a long skirt which reached past the knees and boots.

She had no distinction whatsoever indicating her rank.

"Of course I see "trouble"! You arrested a civilian just because he was quoting Shakespeare! No-one has ever said quoting Shakespeare is "incentive for rebel movements"! Who's your Boss? I wanna tell him one or two thing regarding cha and cha concept of "criteria"!" The woman was protesting.

"… I won't say it." The person at the other end of the line replied after a five second pause.

"Hmpf! Gotcha there! You just wanted an excuse to draw attention to your own useless brain and believe cha would be promoted! I've proven you wrong! You _did_ write a report, so I just have to demand it and find your number! Then I'll tell your Boss to kick you into the streets!"

"… Why, you…!" The man cursed.

"Admit it: you're a freaking idiot! We don't need people like you in the Secret Service's 4th Department! Get lost!"

The woman slammed the phone back on its place, clearly pissed off, while she cursed under her breath.

"Viper – sama? Is something the matter?"

A Net Navi had walked towards Viper while she was engrossed in the phone conversation.

She looked like she had the same age as her and was about three to four inches taller.

Her eyes' irises were colored blood red and displayed calm.

Some white hair emerged from behind her helmet.

Her bodysuit was mainly colored with a mix of golden and silver colors yet the helmet was bronze.

Her shoulders were anatomically correct and the Cyrillic spelling of "Bella" had been drawn there using blood red pain.

She had wave-like patterns drawn on her arms and elbows colored in different shades of blue and gray.

The forearms were crimson red and she had greenish fake nails over her fingers.

She sported the same type of belt and equipment Cobra did.

Her legs had mail-like patterns colored black drawn over them and exposed some "skin" colored to look like a human's skin.

Her black boots were heeled and the front had a small blade emerging from there.

Her emblem was the Cyrillic symbol for "B" set against a black background and surrounded by eight fangs aiming towards it.

"Huff! Bella! See! The person we "interviewed" two hours ago was just quoting Shakespeare on a blog! And there goes one 4th Department freaking idiot and arrests him just to get himself a promotion! I'm so gonna tell his Boss to kick his ass into the street!" Viper cursed.

"… How did such a useless grunt make it into the Secret Service, anyway? I thought we had strict background checks and IQ checks."

"He surely was some _amateur_ hacker wannabe who got the eye of some big fish who thought he could use him." Viper replied.

"Ah. That is how it is, then." Bella looked unfazed.

"Anyway! We have to present two reports. You work on the "interview" report while I present a report about the uselessness of that freaking idiot." Viper commanded.

She sat behind her desk and continued fuming and cursing under her breath.

"Bah! In any case… The world shall soon know to fear our might!"

She typed something with her laptop before she stopped and fumed: she picked the phone and dialed a number.

"Boss 17! This is Viper: Foreign Department! I wanna have a chat with cha regarding Number 138!"

"W-what's wrong with Number 138? Ma'am?"

"They're a complete and useless MORON! SACK THEM!"

"B-but… Huh! I see… This report… Huh… Truly… I'll sack them right away, ma'am…"

"And make sure you erase his access privileges and all: the guy's a damned _amateur _hacker, I'm sure of it. That's why CHA hired the MORON in the first place!" She snapped at the man next.

"R-roger, ma'am… I won't repeat the same mistake twice!"

"Cha better don't or YOU'RE NEXT!"

SLAM!

"Men!"

She violently slammed the receiver back on its place and formed a scowl as she opened a drawer and took out a coiled whip.

"It's better to dominate them and turn the tables! Hmpf! Hah, hah, hah!"

20:40 PM (Melbourne Time)…

"… But how…?"

"Magic."

"Master. Don't kid me. There's no such thing as magic."

"Heh, heh, heh… Sorry. I was inspired."

"Huff."

"Don't make that face! Next time around you get the other."

"Alright. I'll use the table."

"Excellent… You've tested how good it feels, haven't you?"

Philip was sitting to Twilight's right on the living room sofa and began asking when Twilight began to kid but Philip was far from impressed: Twilight shrugged and he also made a lazy shrug of shoulders.

"What's up with those "Foreign Departments" guys and gals, anyway?"

"Heh! They've found out about that damned interloper… That guy behind Atomic Network… Who is rotting away in jail 'cause IQ – sama wanted to show them the consequences of defying the Secret Empire… Speaking of which: the banner in the north wall of Diamond Duchess' room was an old propaganda banner we'd devised…" Twilight chuckled.

"Propaganda Man and Nam Adnagaporp draw it together!"

"Cloud Man… You remind me way too much of Sigma and Shadow Man."

"Huh! I'm n-not trying to imitate them, Twilight – sama! I promise, sir!"

"Huff. Whatever. I'm not in the mood to lash out either."

"So? What's the plan?"

"Heh! Let them be: I have no involvement in what they plot or design anymore, anyway. I'd rather use my free time to do clever stuff."

"Hmpf… True… I feel in a good mood this week… Heh, heh, heh…"


	5. Chapter 5: Overrun

**Chapter 5: Overrun**

11:03 AM (Japan Time), Friday January the 23rd…

"… Yum. Good sandwich, really. Well. I gotta unload."

Saito waited for the stalls to get cleared while he hummed a tune: he heard a chuckle and Dekao walked over to him while rubbing his hands in excitement.

"I beat Tooru, Yaito – chan and protected Meiru – chan!"

"When?"

"Huh? What'd ya say, Saito?"

"When was that? We've had 3 hours involving English, History and Math insofar and the Navis stayed in the local Cyber World while we'd muted the computers and shut off the screens: we were writing down notes and we didn't get to use them. Break time began 4 minutes ago and you can't have done so much in just 4 minutes." Saito calmly listed.

"Dekao – kun. Stop making up stuff." Hikawa, who walked past them, complained with an annoyed look.

"Che! Why do ya always have to rob me the glory?"

"I'm not robbing you the glory: I'm pointing out the reasons why I'm HIGLY skeptical of your claims. Get yourself a lawyer."

"YIKES!"

"Yaito – chan challenges you to find the treasure in her manor's garden this afternoon."

"Hah! It's gotta be next to the tree-house! I'll use it to convince Meiru – chan she's better off with me! Mwah, hah, hah!"

Dekao ran off while Saito entered the stall and locked it while sighing: the figure suddenly fell atop him and brought him to the ground in a blur before he got stunned by the stun gun.

_Too easy. And those guys will not realize: it's too subtle! Heh, heh, heh!_

12:08 PM (Melbourne Time)…

_Huh…? What's this tickling sensation…? Oh. I remember. Netto – kun suggested we spice things up in our threesomes and decided to visit a closed down dungeon to test their stuff there… This has gotta be the table given my own position… It feels good… It tickles, even._

Saito woke up to figure out he was lying face-up on a wooden surface somewhere and that his arms had been lifted to be above his head while his wrists had been tied together and a shot rope kept them tied to a hook on the table so that he couldn't move them: his legs had been spread wide using a metallic bar with two ankle cuffs.

He felt that piston mechanism having the spinning vibrators gently pumping in and out of his ass.

_Heh. The vibrators near my nipples tickle, the one in my penis' head tickles and those tickle too… A tickling party… Guess Netto – kun got suggested by Tooru – kun to go soft for the first time and we'll go harder as we get used to this… I remember Forte and Shirakami had us test a similar device back in the summer of 2005… It's been a long time already! Guess over 3 and half years… Too bad the only thing we've figure out if that they landed in another "Time-Space" and had some involvement with Dr. Regal yet it could be that they were influenced by "another" freak… Another "Nebula Grey"… _

His ball-gag got removed and he felt two hands lifting his head before a cock was stuffed into his mouth: he calmly began to lick it and teased the urethra while inwardly giggling.

_Heh! I like teasing either Netto – kun's or Tooru – kun's urethra. They must be feeling the shivers of pleasure… I wonder if Netto – kun's testing another machine or he's the one who wants a blowjob… Or maybe it's Tooru – kun and Netto – kun is pumping into his small cute ass while rubbing his cock… Heh, heh, heh._

He began to follow the pace set by the unseen person and felt how the intensity of the vibrators increased: he began to articulate his fingers as if to get distracted.

_Netto – kun must want to tease me today… He's increased the speed and I guess he's switched to MAX already skipping MEDIUM… Heh. How many races Blood will win today, I wonder…_

The unseen person released inside of his mouth and Saito calmly swallowed it up before the ball-gag got placed inside of him again: the piston stopped and pulled out before a string of anal beads was stuffed inside of him along with a real cock.

_Oh yeah! Tooru – kun: you're finally getting in the mood? I wanna feel you penis inside of me today. Pump it deeper and deeper: make use of the machine's caved path… Like it was a tunneling machine… Speaking of tunnels and all… In the end the Drill Man which Isaac met at Ms. Millionaire's game in the summer was the original one and the one a year ago commanded by "Sidier" was a replica. There: no paradoxes. Heh, heh, heh… Ah…! He feels good… Too good… _

His anal beads began to be slowly pulled out and he couldn't help but arch his body upwards yet only his torso arched.

_YES! I wanted this! O~h! It's a very good teasing move… Maybe Netto – kun's the one pulling them out… Heh, heh, heh! Pull them out more and then stuff one of our classical vibrators inside! Use the whole width of my ass, you two! _

The beads got completely pulled off and he felt a vibrator being stuffed inside: it began to vibrate and Saito arched again.

_GOOD! Excellent! Ah! Really! It was a good idea to move into some real "friendly" S&M. I missed this! Last time around we got to play with Oriol and he willingly became the "S" while we used the stuff in house's basement to play with him… Oh… And Legato had a huge penis too… How they teased me by having me see Oriol having sex with Netto – kun and I had a loincloth over my penis… I couldn't stop releasing!_

He felt how the person released inside of him and then rubbed his cock as he loosed the bands and pulled out the cap and the beads.

_Yeah! I'm convulsing! I'm releasing! Ah! Refreshing! Truly! Refreshing…!_

11:23 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Saito – niisan! You OK? You don't have a stomachache, right?"

"… Huh? Netto – kun…?"

"Break will be over in 6 minutes!"

"No good! I dozed off!"

"Well. Guess it can happen if the earlier 3 subjects were too intense…"

Saito woke up inside of the WC stall and got to his feet: he flushed the toilet and came out: Netto didn't look surprised.

"By the way! Dekao now's offering a can of Coca Cola he got from a vending machine to Meiru – chan… And she just told him to patent Aloc Acoc." Netto grinned.

"Oho. Meiru – chan can have good sarcasm to shoot at Dekao – kun."

"Huh… Hullo."

"Oh. Arushi – kun."

"Hey. Arushi."

A new student appeared in the entrance of the room.

He was about Netto and Saito's height and had brown hair along with sky blue irises.

"Huff. Man. I need to unload before the break ends. My bad. We'll chat later: I've got an exam in 2 hours' time and I want to focus on it."

"Huff. Ours is in 3 hours' time before lunch break…" Netto sighed.

"Come on, Netto – kun. We can beat those." Saito rallied.

"I know. But they demand a lot of effort… High school will be a nightmare to go through!"

"Well, well. We can't know that yet. Let's go."

"Good luck."

16:23 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Man! The exam was a brain killer."

"Sure…"

"A nightmare…! I said it!"

Netto, Saito and Nelaus were discussing about an exam they had had to do: they all looked tired.

"Hullo~!" A familiar voice called out.

They all turned to see Aura running towards them with her classical smile on her face.

"What's with the moody atmosphere, guys? Cheer up!"

"That's easy to say for you, Aura – chan. You never seem to have a problem with exams." Nelaus told her.

"Huff! They burn me out! But I don't let it get to me!" Aura admitted with a smile.

"It's not like we ended up roasted." Felicia giggled.

"Yeah, I get the joke." Isaac glanced at her with a skeptical glance.

"Mwah, hah, hah… Any heat is welcome during this period of the year, ain't it?"

"Guess that." Blood Shadow shrugged.

"Say! Isaac – kun! Will you accompany me to do some stuff at Internet City?" Felicia asked him.

"Sure. You want an escort?" Isaac smirked.

"Oh? Who knows?" Felicia smiled.

"Nobody knows." Nelaus chuckled.

"That's mean." Aura grumbled.

"My bad."

16:27 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Confess, ugly!"

"I-I don't know anything!"

Commander Beef had cornered a suspicious-looking individual and was questioning him.

"Who finances those weapons which showed up in Internet City? Answer me! By beef and tuna and tuna and beef!" Commander Beef questioned.

"I-I dunno! It must some crazy millionaire!" The guy replied.

"Hum! It could be. Scram."

The guy ran for it while Commander Beef marched forward.

"Commander Beef. What are you up to?" Shark Man asked.

"You know me." He grinned.

"You surely aren't planning on going to battle Higure Yamitarou over Mariko – sensei, are you?" Shark Man suspected.

"Boo." Someone whispered behind Commander Beef.

Commander Beef felt a shiver go down his spine: he took out his fish skeleton weapon and aimed it at Dark Miyabi, who was smiling.

"Dark Miyabi! Just the man I wanted to see… Do you know who finances those weapons?" Commander Beef asked.

"Your aunt."

"Why, the nerve of this punk…!"

"At this rate I'll have to ring the bomb disposal squad." Miyabi replied.

Commander Beef tried to punch Miyabi on the face but failed because Miyabi quickly jumped over him and landed behind him: Commander Beef let out a set of curses under his breath and walked away, grumbling.

"_Veni. Vidi. Vinci_." Shadow Man quoted with a chuckle.

16:33 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Jeez."

"Bored?"

"Take a wild guess."

Isaac was pacing up and down in front of an all-girls' store in Internet City into which Felicia had been for the last five minutes.

"…"I'll be out in a breeze", she said… Now I know why Hikari Jr. ditched Sakurai Meiru." Isaac grumbled.

"Technically… He didn't "ditch" her. He simply doesn't want to be hammered by her." Nelaus corrected.

"Whatever. When did you become a lawyer, anyway?" Isaac sarcastically asked.

"Who knows?"

"I'm gonna kick over something…"

He entered a side alley close by and kicked an empty cardboard box into the air before turning away: he'd merely spotted a lot of capsized garbage bins and cardboard boxes: bored, he gazed towards the Internet City Stadium.

"GOA~L!" A commentator's voice yelled.

"HORRAY!" A chorus of voice roared.

Isaac suddenly heard some buzz-like sounds made by something mechanic: he slowly turned around.

"Huh? Buzzing?"

He was met with a terrifying sight: countless pairs of red eyes belonging to something accumulated inside of the unlit side alley: Isaac recoiled, afraid.

"Nelaus… Does Internet City have Mice-like Viruses roaming around its alleyways, by any chance?" He asked him.

"I dunno, really. Why do you ask, anyway?"

"If _these_ aren't mice, then what the hell are they supposed to be? Cat-shaped Viruses?"

Something suddenly jumped out of the alleyway and attached itself to Isaac, tackling him into the ground: he pushed and tried to shake free of whatever had grabbed him.

"Fuck! This ain't a cat. It's too heavy! Gotta be a bull-dog!"

He felt a small cut on his chest emblem and noticed a bit of data being taken out: he managed to open his eyes and was met with one of those four-legged robots which had assaulted the _S. S. Utah _days ago.

"W-what the…?" He uttered.

"What are these things doing here?" Nelaus was baffled.

"Give me something to get rid of this thing!" Isaac cursed.

"Battle Chip, Area Steal! Slot In!"

Isaac warped a meter away from the robot and spotted a lot of them crawling out of the side alley and spreading around the city: Isaac tried to shoot at them with his default weapon, but the shots just bounced off them and they didn't seem to care about him.

"A~H!" Various loud shrieks came out from inside the store.

"Damn. One of those things got inside. What do we do? I can't step there just like that: it'd be perverted." Isaac cursed while rolling his eyes.

A crowd ran out through the door and the exhibition window immediately enough, being chased by the four-legged robots.

"What a pervert!" Felicia cursed.

"What a damned pervert!" Roll cursed.

"Battle Chip, Boomerang! Slot In!"

"Beep – beep – beep."

Isaac shot a Boomerang Battle Chip at one of the four-legged robots: it lifted its left front leg, closed its toes and caught it.

"Huh?"

It hurled it back towards Isaac and hit him fully in the torso.

"Oof!"

He hit his back against a wall and got partly stuck there.

"Grah! Heart Slash!"

"Winter Storm!"

Roll unleashed her string of hearts towards the robots while Felicia summoned several ice shards which she threw towards them: the robots merely jumped into the air and landed on top of them.

"Kyah!"

"Monster _hentai_?" Felicia cursed.

They took out one small surgical knife and made a cut to each one's chest emblem: they extracted a small bit of data and detached themselves, running away in haste.

"Guys! We've got trouble!" Nelaus was telling Netto and Saito.

"We heard the scandal!" Netto replied.

"What do we do?" Saito asked.

"I'm gonna kick 'em 'round! Blood! Ye stay 'ere!" Sigma announced.

"O. K.!"

Sigma warped into Internet City and headed towards a pack of four of the robots.

"Hey! You ugly dudes! Wanna brawl? Fight like men! Come at me! Fight!"

The three of them jumped towards Sigma, who quickly swung his gigantic sword around.

"COME AT FULL POWER!"

It was too thick and wide to avoid, so the attack hit the core of all the robots and propelled them towards one of the skyscrapers, getting stuck on the wall.

"Hah! Did you like that kickass, vermin?" Sigma taunted.

"_Show me your moves_!" A familiar voice taunted close by.

Sigma looked backwards and spotted Davis fighting one of the robots with a golden-colored Long Sword Battle Chip.

"Let's blow 'em up!"

Lander shot bullets around to create a cage around the robots thanks to their ricochet properties.

"Go back to the foul Hades pit thee came out from, you demons! Evil Source!

Shadow Man threw several fireballs at some robots, but they dodged by jumping and grabbing the walls of close by buildings.

"Damn! Vanish within the foul pit of the Reverse Cyber World, you demons!"

"Shadow Man. I don't think this is good moment to use _samurai_ dialect at all..." Dark Miyabi told him.

"Sorry. I got inspired, Miyabi." Shadow Man replied with sarcasm.

"We're here!" Blues announced as he ran towards them.

"What's the situation like?" Search Man asked.

"They mainly focus on dodging attacks… They have the tendency to jump into Navis and copy their ID data… If one attacks with a low-power attack which doesn't hurt much, they merely ignore the attacker since the attacks bounce off their armor." Isaac briefed.

"Let's be careful or we'll be overrun before we know it." Search Man told the group.

"Roger!"

All of the Navis scattered and tried to attack the robots, which insisted on either dodging or attaching themselves to a Navi to copy their ID data before running away.

"Grah! They don't want to fight like men, huh?" Sigma cursed.

"Clear out! We're going to bring out the heavy guns." Search Man announced.

"Dream Sword!"

Blues used the Program Advance's shockwave to try to hit the robots: a lot of them were taken aback by the quick speed and were tossed around by the attack, causing considerable dents on their armored bodies.

"Pick them off!" Search Man instructed.

A loud piercing whistle suddenly echoed around Internet City: the robots stopped doing whatever they were doing and scattered towards the side alley they had come from.

"Let's follow them!" Davis rallied.

They ran towards the spot, but there was a sudden explosion which held them back: the whole alley was set in fire.

"Damn! They self-destructed?" Sigma assumed.

"No. I don't see any data remains of them. They used this to hold us off while they shut down the Reverse Cyber World pit which they used to come out." Search Man corrected.

"They really are the sneaky type, then." Davis grumbled.

"We should report all of this. We'll have busy days ahead of us, it'd seem."

"The _Sheriff_ is goin' to ring up the big boss!" Lander announced.

"Let's go see Uncle Sam and then Hal will chat with 'im." Davis smirked.

"See ya."

09:09 AM (Berlin Time)…

"… Oh. _Herr _General Meta. It is a pleasure to hear from you again."

"You are complimenting me, _Herr Präsident_."

Schneider was talking with General Meta over the phone while inside of his office: he looked in a very good mood.

"The _Nibelungs_ are a success as well. Next week we're going to test the last batch, the _V._ Net Navis, and then we'll enter mass production. It'll be entertaining." General Meta announced.

"The Ministry of Industry is snooping around: I would recommend trying to come up with something to divert attention to." Schneider warned.

"Leave it to us. They will end up misled." General Meta assured Schneider while sounding slightly amused.

"Good. Then, we shall speak again, _Herr _General Meta."

"_Auf Wiedersehen."_

"_Auf Wiedersehen_."

Schneider placed the receiver back on the base and stood up: he looked out at the midday panorama of Berlin and chuckled under his breath as he put up a malicious smile.

"Let's call our gentleman."

He picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"_Herr_ G. Is everything running 100% 24/7 over there?"

"Truly, _Herr Präsident_. Mr. Twilight is working on something to try to make them think he's pulling the strings too: he'll stir up some confusion amongst their ranks."

"Excellent. But don't overwork yourself, either, _Herr _G."

"Truly. Thank you very much, sir."

"It's nothing, my gentleman. Everything is progressing. Heh, heh, heh."

21:41 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Tomorrow we're going to go see Trill at the HQ and we'll take part in an infiltration VR. Let's see what kind of tricks we'll be able to use this time."

"Sure. It'll be fun, as usual."

Saito's Link PET rang.

"It's Vincent." Blood Shadow automatically announced.

"Let's hear his latest "exploit"." Saito smirked.

Blood Shadow smirked as well and patched the call through.

"_Ajá! Por fin responden, eh? Sepan que en este pueblo hay un nuevo héroe! Su nombre es… Vicente el Rojo!"_ A Mexican-accented voice announced in Spanish.

"_Bueno. Si usted quiere salvar a alguien… Salve al gran pueblo de ese partido pro-yanqui nuevo que pretende causar una revolución yanqui en todo el país! Entonces le ascenderán a Presidente de Méjico!"_

"_Excelente idea, Caballero! Agárrense! Muy pronto YO seré EL Señor Presidente! __Hah, hah, ha~h!"_

Both Netto and Saito were about to burst into laughter: they had a vague idea of how the conversation had gone like.

"It began like this… "Aha! You finally replied, huh? You must know that there's a new hero in this village! His name is… Vincent "Red"!" Blood Shadow translated.

"He believes himself a hero this time? He's been drinking too much _tequila_." Netto chuckled.

"I told him: "Well! If you wanna save someone, save your village from that new pro-Yankee party which pretends to cause a Yankee revolution all across the country! Then you shall be ascended to President of Mexico!"…"

"Tell us his reply!" Saito requested.

"I'm on it… "Excellent idea, my Excellent Sir! Brace yourselves! _I_ will soon be THE Mr. President!"… And he exploded into megalomaniac laughter."

"Mwah, hah, hah! He'll be the Mr. President of the Club of Idiots leaded by Whyte's ghost." Sigma laughed.

"He Who Resides In BAJA AJAB California Ainrofilac."

Shadow Man popped up from Sigma's large shadow and Blood Shadow fumed before he spotted the wounds on his body.

"The virtual "Talon"…?"

"No. The flesh and bone one. I found them snooping in the Professor's old lab: Zero let me know because he's been trying to figure out if Twilight's using the stuff there to store info. He did figure out he's been using it to build up the equivalent to the "System" to control all those ID – equipped weapons… The intruder sensors warned him so he called me. We had a silent exchange and then they dropped down a shaft to be rescued by Zoan Gate Man." Shadow Man explained.

"Hum. I see."

"Where'd you dig that fossil from?" Sigma laughed.

"Don't quote Han Solo next."

"That Solo guy we met a year ago was his evil nephew!"

"Jeez. That Solo guy had nothing to do with Han Solo."

"Nothing to do with Olos Nah." Shadow Man chuckled.

"Sod off." Blood Shadow fumed.

"Delighted. Step-brother Ibayim awaits me on Yavin IV."

Shadow Man chuckled and dived into Sigma's shadow: he chuckled while the twins looked thoughtful and Blood Shadow fumed.

"Let's hit the sack and tell Vadous – san tomorrow." Netto suggested.

20:55 PM (Mongolia Time)…

"… It'd seem you've found something thanks to the _Nibelungs_! Isn't that right, Scorpion?"

"That's so true, Meta."

Scorpion was talking with a man.

This man was on his late twenties or early thirties and was clean shaven.

He could be close to a meter and ninety tall.

His hair was blond and his eyes' irises were blue.

He had an athletic profile to him.

He wore the same kind of olive green military attire as Scorpion and Viper.

"It'd seem you've managed to devour the mole! Isn't that right, Cobra?"

"Sod off, Vulture."

Cobra was talking with a Navi about his height and about 3cm shorter than Meta.

He had green eye irises: some green-colored hair emerged from the back of his helmet colored gray.

His shoulders were also spheroids and contained the Cyrillic spelling for "Vulture" in faint golden coloring against the gray color the shoulders had.

Several spiral – like patterns colored white had been carved across his arms and elbows.

He wore the mandatory belt too.

His legs' patterns looked like they climbed upwards instead of descending like in the arms and were colored black instead.

The boots were white in color and had a gray matrix drawn into them.

His emblem was the Cyrillic symbol for "V" set inside of an open beak colored golden.

"Well. Let's sit down and talk it over, shall we?" Scorpion suggested with a poker face.

"Let us do so." Meta smirked.

The six persons, three humans and three Net Navis, sat around their usual conference table.

"I've managed to identify almost all of the initials which survived the destruction of Atomic Network's server. I'm going to hand the results as PDF files to all of you." Scorpion announced.

Both Viper and Meta engaged their Link PET's holographic screens and read a list of data: their Navis did the same.

"Hum. So… This person… Vadous… He is the head of a powerful organization simply known as the "Sub Space"? Hmmm… Those two Navis, Sigma and Blood Shadow are under his orders… It would appear Vadous is a man with a lot of tricks under his sleeves and that if one dares to challenge him he takes the challenger down in the blink of an eye using his powerful connections… And apparently he and Twilight worked for someone before and have an ongoing rivalry…" Meta read.

"Sounds like it could be a difficult individual to deal with." Viper ventured.

"Hmmm… Where is he located at?" Vulture asked.

"Dunno. There was no data." Cobra replied.

"He's described as a "nomad"… He may like switching countries from time to time to make it harder to trace him…" Meta kept reading.

"Ah! It'd seem that he worked for a Mistress known as Anaya Maria, known as "Ice Queen"… The leader of the whole Japan red light district underworld… He rebelled and got her into prison along with another guy whose name is unknown… A former FBI man helped her escape and hid her, it'd seem… What the heck! This FBI man was the head of the syndicate known as "Deadly Pandora"!" Viper uttered.

"It says that he is connected to powerful people… The list is large…" Bella whistled.

"But wouldn't you know? Do you remember Operation: Double Edge set up by the Secret Service's 4th Department and carried out by us? There was a guy who programmed the Net Navi which was the key component of the operation… When the operation failed, he quit and vanished. It was reported that he'd died… But he didn't." Scorpion smirked while telling the others this piece of information.

"WHAT?" The remaining four presents shouted.

"It was a ploy! He'd prepared everything beforehand. And he ended up leading… Atomic Network." Cobra let out the bombshell.

"But, then… Why would he provoke an earthquake on our territory if he was from our country?" Meta asked.

"He was totally resentful of the Secret Service and the whole military as a whole, so it was his way of saying "screw you morons"..." Scorpion summarized.

"We must make sure to cover our tracks very well. With all the people there are out there looking into our field tests one slight mistake could drive them towards us." Viper warned.

"I agree with Viper – sama." Bella announced.

"We'll make sure to be able to test out the _V._ Net Navis before we enter mass-production and we sell them to random groups in order to spread fear and terror and confuse them even further." Meta grinned.

"That's an excellent plan. We will be revising the data the FOD collected before their demise and check it with what we have collected from our two raids. We've been able to deploy several "pits" from which we can strike and retreat easily without leaving any trails." Vulture smirked.

"This meeting is concluded, then?" Scorpion asked.

"Yeah. Let's get to work. Viper & Bella: you two should take care of the idiots. We must purge them. Scorpion & Cobra: keep as you were. Vulture and I will be putting the finishing touches. P. W. _must_ be completed."

The group chuckled or giggled under their breaths…

22:22 PM (Japan Time)…

"… So, Past… After those FOD guys… Who's next?"

"Unmanned weapons, Priest – sama…"

"Unmanned weapons…? Who provides them?"

"Dunno. The Net Police believe the FOD gathered combat data to make them versatile. They suspect someone in Germany but there's nothing solid anywhere: Twilight's involvement into this is murky too."

"Mwroh, hoh, hoh, hoh… They're like TIE fighters and ants."

"No wonder… Seeing their footage…"

"Huh? I'm missing something, AM?"

"I'd known of those for some days, sir."

"What the heck? Why didn't you tell me, then?"

"I did tell you, sir! 3 days, 15 hours and 9 minutes ago."

"Heck. I got engrossed in testing that new simulation and forgot all about that… I thought I was seeing a sci-fi film!"

"Priest – sama…!"

A biker was sitting in a foldable plastic chair in a veranda somewhere and talking through a PET.

This PET's emblem was a blood-red-painted simplistic eye drawing.

This biker was about a meter and sixty or maybe slightly taller.

He was wearing a reddish sleeveless vest which was open over a black t-shirt plus jeans and sneakers.

They also had a black motorbike helmet with the PET's drawing imprinted on the forehead.

"Sorry, AM. But this project is everything to me."

"But quitting sleep or trying to sleep just 2 hours…!"

"Jeez. You start to sound like a baby-sitter… I'm old enough to know about that!"

"Well, sir! I'd rather say you're stubborn enough, sir."

"Jeez. You win, man."

"I apologize for my language, Priest – sama."

"Jeez. You're my pal and not my servant. I don't mind if you try to input useful stuff: it's me who's being annoying and bickering."

"Reclaimer, Reclaimer, Reclaimer… This Ring is MINE!"

"And I forgot to switch off my attempts to imitate 343 Guilty Spark's voice… Jeez. I'm a _Halo_ geek, Past. So that's pretty much a hint of what type of bloke I am."

"Well… It's not my place to…" "Past" argued.

"Don't speak like a lawyer, fellow."

"I apologize, sir. Well. Insofar Twilight has sent that "Talon" to cause trouble to both Dark Miyabi and Shadow Man but nothing else has happened anywhere… My cover keeps on being solid: no – one has begun to suspect anything, sir."

"OK… Fua~h… It is lunch time here but I'll just have a vegetable sandwich and some orange juice… I've turned vegetarian from time to time: and I should try to put an order to my work-room too… I've got socks scattered at random!" "Priest" sighed.

"So the chatter one year ago about the "Dark Side" and all, sir…?"

"Jeez. I was trying to sound cool and cocky but I SUCK at it."

"But that's because you're pushing yourself, sir."

"Future's Navi, "DM", also agrees on that… Wro~h!"

"Unit B! Quiet!" "AM" commanded.

"Let them be, AM… They're right and I'm the one doing it wrong."

"That's true, Priest – sama, yet…"

"Jeez. Don't come up with "yet", "if" and "but" next… I'm not in the mood to argue back… Go to Downing Street and pretend you're a preview of next year's Halloween party." "Priest" sarcastically replied.

"… Oi, Past… Are you sure Priest – sama in his 30s…?" "Unit B" asked in a hushed tone.

"Well… That was my initial speculation… Guess mid-20s, then… Like that Vadous guy and Twilight…" He whispered back.

"What's that chit-chat 'bout? The Tokyo Exchange got busted?"

"No, sir."

"Why should it, sir?"

"Jeez. I'm being sarcastic… Fua~h… Well. Once ya figure out whether Uncle Sam's sponsoring those things or not send me the report and I'll call you back when I feel like it… Need a sandwich, juice and a _siesta_ before resuming work… Stupid wiring… I almost trip with it… Where was my bunk again? Ah! There." He sleepily muttered.

"Roger, Priest – sama."

"AM! Wake me up in an hour's time."

"But, sir… You need further rest than that… You said you expect to be pretty much done by May-June… It isn't February yet! Some hours' rest won't make much of a difference, sir! If you collapse from lack of sleep and of proper eating and need to be hospitalized, sir…!"

"Heck. You're right, yeah. I NEED to take some hours to rest. See ya."

"Huff. Priest – sama's pushing himself too much with his project, whatever that may be about." "Past" sighed.

"Mwro~h… I'll go have a scary nightly chat with Despair Man!"

"The "D" in "DM" doesn't stand for Despair, B!"

"Hah! I'm Bickering! And I summon Brick, my half-brother! Wro~ho~h!"


	6. Chapter 6: Femme fatales

**Chapter 6: **_**Femme fatales**_

11:22 AM (Japan Time), Saturday January the 24th…

"The usual corridor…"

"…that curves…"

"…and circles…"

"Heh! You guys like to make up rhymes, eh?"

Netto, Saito and Nelaus walked down the curved metallic corridor they had been walking the other time: they headed towards a set of two double doors labeled "MESS HALL".

"There we go!"

The three of them stepped in: the room was rectangular in shape and had various large picnic-like wooden tables set in four rows: each table had a large bench attached to it and all of them were fixed into the ground.

"Truly. A true mess hall. You don't see these much often!" Netto commented with some humor.

"Heh, heh, heh."

"Jeez. That joke's running old." Saito complained.

The far wall had two double doors with the banner "KITCHEN" above them: they headed for them and knocked on the door.

"Do come in." A gentle voice replied.

The three of them entered an industrial-like kitchen: there were two persons there.

They looked about a meter and eighty tall and in their late 30s.

They wore a goldenrod tunic and a brownish bamboo hat plus traditional wood sandals.

His hair was black and ended in a thin string behind his head which had a Chinese-like decoration.

His eyes' irises were brown.

"Yay! And Uncle Confucius fought a Demon Mouse?"

"Truly, Honorable Trill - san."

Trill, the child Navi, had been speaking with him but he turned around to greet the guys.

"Good morning, Honorable Gentlemen." The man greeted with an old-styled reverence.

"Hey! 'Morning, Netto, Saito, Nelaus, Isaac!"

"Morning, Dragon – san and Trill!" All of them replied.

"Hey! Are we gonna play with the VR system?" Trill asked them.

"Roger!"

"The humble cook wishes good luck to the Honorable Gentlemen." He politely told them.

"Okay! Let's go!" Nelaus grinned.

The group of four departed the kitchen and crossed through the mess hall before emerging again into the corridor.

"So, Trill? How are things like onboard?" Saito asked him.

"Trill is happy! Dr. Lartes tells Trill good jokes! Dragon – san tells Trill a lot of interesting stuff! And the TV cartoon is fun! Yay! Cartoon is fun!" Trill replied.

"Heh. That's good!"

"As long as you are comfortable here… Then all will go well." Isaac added with a smile.

"Yay!" Trill smiled again.

The group reached the VR Room and got ready: Saito transferred out of his cyborg body, which he left resting on a chair there: the "Dimensional Area" engaged.

"Synchro Chip, Slot In! CROSS FUSION!"

"Synchro Chip, Slot In! CROSS FUSION!"

Both Netto and Nelaus performed "Cross Fusion" and stood ready along with Trill.

"Yay!"

They were soon "pulled" into the Cyber World of the VR Room and everything became white.

"Mission: begin! Yay!"

The three of them appeared inside of a deserted concrete corridor built inside of somewhere.

"Okay… This is a "Hard" setting mission. We will need to come up with elaborate tricks in order to dodge the guards. Trill: you know the drill."

"Yay! Leave it up to Trill!"

"I'll be covering our backs." "CF" Nelaus announced.

The three of them tiptoed forward walking with their backs grazing the wall: they stopped once they reached a corner.

"Trill. Have a look." "CF" Netto whispered.

Trill nodded and glanced at what was in the corridor.

"There are five Misters playing a card game!" Trill announced.

"It must be Trumps. Okay. Let's go for the "Literate" strategy."

"CF" Netto produced a magazine whose cover displayed the Ace of Hearts and the headline "HOW TO CHEAT AT TRUMPS".

"Military Post Service!" "He tossed the magazine where they were at.

"Whoa! I needed this!" One guard exclaimed.

"What the…! You wanna cheat and keep all the money for you, you freaking idiot?" A second cursed.

"Hand it over!" A third commanded.

"Shut the trap up. You're the Gunnery Sergeant: but that doesn't give you authority." A fourth snapped.

"Wanna brawl?" A fifth challenged.

Curses and other sounds began to be heard along with the sound of coins hitting the ground: punches and kicks could be heard as well.

"It's begun!"

The three of them looked at the guards, who had formed a cloud of smoke because of the fighting.

"Chance!" "CF" Nelaus told them.

The three of them quickly slipped past the guards and climbed a set of stone stairs.

"Okay! First floor is clear. We have to climb another two floors until the top of this place." "CF" Netto announced.

"Let's keep going, then."

"Yay!"

The three of them quickly and silently made their way across until they spotted a Private guarding the door which led to the 3rd floor stairs.

"Leave it to me." "CF" Netto announced.

He crept near the Private and cleared his throat.

"Private Johnson! You have been granted the Medal to the Private of the Year! Come receive it at the General's Office!" "CF" Netto announced with a rough, dry and cracked-like voice.

"Goodness! Yes, sir!"

The Private ran off towards the north. "CF" Netto followed him towards a door labeled "GENERAL'S OFFICE": the Private entered and "CF" Netto closed the door behind him, turning the key and taking it off.

"Battle Chip, Flame Sword."

He used the Flame Sword's heat to melt the keyhole and effectively lock the Private inside: he made a signal to "CF" Nelaus and Trill so that they knew that the coast was clear: they quickly climbed towards the 3rd floor while the Private was banging the door.

"There's no one in here! Avery! You tricked me! Lemme outta 'ere! I'm so gonna kick ya outta the Corps!" The Private yelled.

The three of them chuckled under their breaths until they reached the next floor.

"3rd floor: ugly guards, idiotic officers and obese big bosses!"

"Yay!" Trill giggled.

"There's gonna be a tough one around here. Let's stay sharp just in case: you never know. As long as they're not SWAT, though… Then we can handle those if things get noisy… But le'ts be careful." "CF" Netto warned in a hushed tone.

The group quickly walked forward and spotted two Elite guards keeping watch of a room's entrance.

"I'll get ugly if they spot us." "CF" Netto muttered.

"What do we do?" "CF" Nelaus asked.

"Trill. You know the drill." "CF" Netto instructed.

Trill grinned and materialized two large wooden sticks with platforms to lean the feet like the ones the clowns used: he then engaged a holographic disguise of an African warrior and walked towards the Elites at a quick pace.

"GROA~R!"

"It's a monster!"

"Run!"

The two Elites ran past the room, yelling in terror.

"Tee, heh, heh!"

Trill disengaged the disguise and the three of them ran into the room which contained a black ragged flag with the word "GOAL" printed on it and colored purple: some 3D letters materialized into the air upon grabbing it:

MISSION COMPLETE!

The three of them "left" the Cyber World and returned to the real world: the "Dimensional Area" powered down and the two of them grabbed their Link PETs as the holographic screen with the results popped out:

VR SIMULATOR

MODE: INFILTRATION

SETTING: HARD

TIME: 04: 33

RANK: A

USERS: H. NETTO, ROCK MAN, N. RAINON, ISAAC & TRILL

HAVE A NICE DAY!

"Yay!" Trill giggled.

Netto returned Saito to his body and he awoke by letting out a yawn and stretching.

"It was a good way to do some exercise… Let's get back home."

"We should visit Iris before we go." Netto reminded them.

"I haven't seen her in a while. Let's go say hi." Nelaus commented.

"O. K., fellas!"

The group exited the VR Room and walked down the corridor towards the left until they reached a door with the banner "GUEST ROOM #7".

"Trill?"

The door opened and Iris stepped out before they could knock.

"Oh! Good morning… There you are, Trill. Were you playing with them, then?" The girl greeted and asked Trill next.

"Yay! Iris – oneechan!"

"Hullo, Iris! How are things like?" Netto asked.

"They're very fine, thank you, Hikari – kun. I'm a bit worried about the news of these unidentified weapons… It makes me remember our world and its war." Iris admitted.

"Everyone is, of course. But we now know that they're being manufactured in Germany. It shouldn't take much longer to find out the culprits behind this. And don't worry: it won't end up like in "Beyondard"."

"That's true." Iris smiled.

"What do you do to stay busy apart from keeping an eye on Trill, anyway?" Nelaus asked.

"Oh. I sometimes take part in some of those VR Missions and I also help Kir Osh – san by doing some maintenance. Other times I read up magazines to study about society."

"Ah. That's a good way of helping others."

"Well! Let's get going to the surface. Will something happen today?" Isaac wondered.

"I've got that hunch." Iris muttered.

"Mwah, hah, hah… Hcnuh – hunch…" Sigma chuckled close by and made another of his lame jokes.

"Sigma – san…!" Iris fumed.

"Sigma…!" Omega grumbled.

"YIKES!"

"Saw it coming." Blood Shadow drily muttered.

12:29 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Can you believe it? The German Ministry of Industry claims that the company producing those things is strongly tied to right – wing radical parties. It seems too convenient."

"It obviously is a decoy. Man. Those bureaucrats always fall for the same stuff."

Davis and Lander were discussing as they walked down a street Internet City.

"Huh?"

A melody suddenly began to fill the air: everyone stopped, intrigued, and looked around to try to discern the origin of it: the melody sounded classical.

"This music… I've heard it before…" Davis frowned.

"It sounds like a classical opera, doesn't it?" Lander offered.

Some clouds suddenly formed on the sky and opened to reveal Roman-style temples built on top of them: a rainbow appeared and formed a kind of bridge leading directly to the Internet City Coliseum.

"What the heck is that?" Lander uttered.

"I've seen that somewhere before, too…" Davis muttered.

Several silhouettes seemed to "ride" upon the rainbow bridge and land into the Internet City Coliseum so Davis and Lander hurried there: explosions and yells had started to echo.

"What the heck is going on?" Lander cursed.

"I wish I knew, too!"

They entered the Coliseum and gasped when they spotted the panorama.

"What!"

"What the heck?"

Half a dozen Navis riding horses were standing in the field.

They had armor colored blood red and helmets made of gold with silvery edges: they had a clearly female appearance.

All of them had red eye irises which displayed no emotion and golden hair fell down from behind their helmets.

They all had a single emblem: the initials "W.R." painted gold and set against a sea blue background.

"T-those are…!" Davis uttered.

"You know 'em?" Lander assumed.

"Sort of… They're _Valkyries_: from the Nordic mythology!"

"Then… What the heck is this opera music?" Lander asked.

"I remember! This is part of the set of operas know as _Der Ring des Nibelungen_… _Die Walküre_. And this signals Act III: the _Walkürenritt_ or Ride of the Valkyries!" Davis explained.

"Now it's clearer than ever than these things were inspired by a German dude." Lander grumbled.

Two of the Valkyries suddenly landed in front of the two of them, crushing the benches and seats beneath them.

"Net Saviors. In the name of our masters, you people must be slain by our sacred swords." They both announced using an automated and emotionless voice.

"They're pre-programmed Net Navis, then?" Davis guessed.

"Dodge!"

Both of them barely dodged their sharp swords.

"Charles! The Monolith! Bring it out!"

"I need something to fight at close-quarters ASAP, Martin! Hurry it up, will ya!" Lander called out.

"Battle Chip, Monolith! Slot In!"

"Battle Chip, Tank Cannon! Slot In!"

A black tall rectangular slab with a totally featureless and smooth surface formed there and it repulsed one of the _Valkyrie_ enemies before the back cover vanished: Davis ran in and the thing suddenly warped.

"Eat cannon!"

The close distance between him and one of the _Valkyries_ made it impossible for her to dodge, so she met the shot head-on, sending her flying and crashing down into the central stage: Lander let the recoil push him backwards.

"Justice Sword!"

The "Monolith" reformed behind the other enemy and Davis jumped out of its insides: he clashed blades with the other _Valkyrie_: she seemed to have no trouble blocking all of his attacks with either her blade or her shield.

"Grah! I'm getting tired of this… Charles! Let's bring out the heavy guns!"

"Okay! Program Advance!"

"Program Advance!"

"Justice Sword, Triple Slot In!"

"Golden… Blade~!"

The powerful attack hit the _Valkyrie_ fully and deleted her as she shrieked in agony.

"Phew! We managed to take it down… They're good at dealing with standard attacks, but they're not fast enough to react when dealing with powerful close-quarters attacks…" Davis commented.

"What do we do with the rest of them?"

As if hearing Lander's question, the _Valkyries_ suddenly jumped towards the rainbow "bridge" and rode it towards the "temples".

"Whoa!"

They soon vanished and it looked like they'd never come were it not for the damage inflicted to the Coliseum.

"I know what those buildings meant… They were the _Valhalla_ and the rainbow bridge was the "Bifrost"… It's totally themed after the German opera." Davis commented.

"Let's go tell the guys. Things are getting weirder and weirder with every passing day." Charles rolled his eyes.

"Hmmm?"

Davis had spotted something on the ground.

"What's this?"

He picked it up: the object was a tag which seemed to have been part of the destroyed _Valkyrie_ and read "Project _Walkürenritt_ Phase 4".

"… That's what it meant! The so-called "P. W." stood for "Project _Walkürenritt_"!" Davis realized.

"But the previous weapons didn't have any connection, did they?"

"Those weapons are intended for real-world warfare while these Navis are intended for Cyber World warfare… We can try to put the pieces of the puzzle together later. Let's go tell the Net Police." Davis replied.

They failed to spot a tall bulky Security Navi looking on from close by and being seemingly surprised but since their face was covered by the helmet and they had thick blue shades their face couldn't be seen.

"Mwro~h… Past! Did ya see those gals?"

"Yeah. It'd seem the Germany trail isn't so much of a bad idea but it could be a German living outside Germany to begin with too."

"Heck. I don't wanna try to match my slow speed against them."

"I can see that… Let's write it down and dispatch it to Priest – sama: these guys have stopped fooling around and gotten serious at last!"

07:17 AM (Berlin Time)…

"… The _Valkyries_ performed well. They met one or two troubles, but we will be able to quickly fix them for the next demonstration."

"Excellent, _Herr Präsident_. With this we will be able to close up the field testing part and begin producing them on our own factories."

Schneider was chatting with General Meta over the phone.

"By the way… The Ministry of Industry has fallen for it. We have nothing more to worry about them." Schneider added.

"I knew they would. We shall speak again soon enough, _Herr Präsident_. _Auf Wiedersehen_."

"_Auf Wiedersehen_."

Schneider finished the call and pressed a button on an interphone.

"_Herr Präsident_. What might I do for you?" A man's voice replied.

"Have you been able to find out anything important concerning our young _Herr_? _Herr_ G. Ms. Viper requested us to look it up." Schneider asked the man.

"Well. I do believe his past is no more than a cover story built up by the Net Police. I have a hunch that he must have some secret origin and my hunches tend to be correct. Maybe Mr. Twilight could elaborate if he _feels_ like it." The man replied.

"Fascinating. Please keep it up while you can. Now that the R&D work at the lab is done with… You should have plenty of time to look into it, my good Herr G." Schneider instructed with a smile.

"You may leave it to me, _Herr Präsident_." The man assured him.

"Heh… Ladies and Gentlemen: the epilogue is about to begin. Please return to your seats and enjoy tonight's function." He announced as if he were the announcer of an opera house.

"Truly."

16:25 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Wait. If these things were Phase 4, then the four-legged robots must've been Phase 3 and the flying things must've been Phase 2… What was Phase 1, then?"

"Dunno."

Vadous had been discussing with Omega the recent events and had managed to find some logic to the attacks of the different enemies.

"And this only reaffirms that someone in Germany is manufacturing and programming these things. Without more info we won't get anywhere: we'll keep on being stuck." Omega rolled his eyes.

"The guys behind this want to start a new type of warfare altogether."

"Something tells me that, next time, they're not going to be taken down so easily." Omega warned.

"I'm going to ring up Zero in the meanwhile."

"Good."

"…struggling conflicting marching souls which…"

"ME! ANGER! GOD!" Vadous grumbled.

"Ua~h!"

"Yay! Dragon – san runs like an athlete!"

"Trill! Don't climb into the handrails!"

"Ops. Sorry, oneechan!"

"Really…" Omega rolled his eyes.

"I agree with Iris: Trill shouldn't climb into the handrails."

"Well. Let's call Zero and see what we can dig up out there…"

"And maybe we'll stumble upon Legion 64. Guess one day he's going to send the whole of them to try to overwhelm us…" Vadous rolled his eyes.

20:20 PM (Seoul Time)…

"… Psst!"

"Huh? Whaddya want?"

A man was sitting inside of a bar somewhere.

He was on his early 30s and had a body-builder type of body frame: his height could be a bit shorter than a meter and eighty.

He had messy brown hair and some traces of a rather poorly shaven beard and moustache: his eyes' irises were brown too.

As clothing he sported a brown open vest over a white t-shirt, jeans and sneakers.

"Lemme speak…"

"Fine."

The man looked at his left to see another man on his late twenties.

He wore a navy blue raincoat, a gray hat with a red stripe and sunglasses.

He was holding out a rewritable CD case on his right hand.

"I'm just a useless bureaucrat… I wanna have payback on my bosses, so have this… I'm sure cha "buddies" would appreciate it. I'm an anonymous source."

The man with the raincoat quickly left the bar and while the first man frowned and pocketed the case.

"I should have a look at this and tell Charles 'bout it: he's itching for news…" The man muttered.

He paid for his drink and departed the bar: he looked around as he walked around the shadows cast by street lights to make sure he wasn't being followed.

"Hum. Looks clean…"

_But you can never trust first impressions, anyway._

He reached a hotel and climbed to his room on the 3rd floor: he opened the room and locked it from the inside.

"Let's see…"

He picked a laptop and booted it up: he then inserted the CD in the tray and ran an antivirus check on it.

"Doesn't seem to contain any malicious program… Let's check its contents." He muttered.

He began to type and looked at the files he opened: his eyes quickly jumped from line to line and he frowned.

"So… It's those guys' work, then… No idea of who's the manufacturer: hinted at being someone of a high social position… What? Phase 1!"

The man gasped and looked nervous before he resumed working.

"That's how they were able to come and leave so quickly and jump between worlds so easily… Charles and Davis know more about this technological stuff that I do, but this is enough… Let's make a copy of this, encrypt it, and sent it to Charles."

"Metto~!"

"Heh, heh, heh… So. Donkey Kong. Did you beat King K. Rool?"

"Jeez. Zoan Gate Man. Go tortoise and turtle in the Antipodes."

Zoan Gate Man projected a 3D image along with 4 Mettools labeled from "61" to "65": the man turned around and grumbled.

"Name's Daniel Komero! Remember it!"

"Komero. Daniel Komero." Zoan Gate Man made a joke.

"I'm fed up with the DK jokes and the Bond jokes: go joke with the Joker and see if he finds it funny to bathe you in acid!"

"I like how that sounds like. Heh, heh, heh."

"Jeez. Those guys…! Whatever! We finally figured out the mastermind!"


	7. Chapter 7: Decisions

**Chapter 7: Decisions**

08:28 AM (Japan Time), Sunday January the 25th…

"… Hmmm… Uppercut… Low kick… I kicked the guy outta the ring… The prize is mine…!"

"… Scramble alert!"

"Ah! Let's get ready for the fight!"

CRASH! BLOF!

Charles fell from the sofa and hit the floor with his head in a totally disarrayed move: he looked confused.

"Aw… What the heck…" He grumbled.

"About time, Charles." A familiar voice told him.

Charles looked at the head of the sofa to see Davis standing near it and looking serious.

"First: it's half past nine in the morning. Second: Daniel sent us important stuff from Seoul." Davis pointed out.

"Daniel sent us something, ya say…? What the heck was he doing in Seoul to begin with…?" Charles asked as he sat up and rubbed the back of his head.

"Well. He was investigating a weapon-smuggling band, see. He'd just finished handing over the evidence to the local authorities. He's flying back today... However, yesterday night, he was approached by someone."

"Who approached him? Elvis Presley's ghost?" Charles asked with obvious sarcasm.

"As far as I know… Sir Elvis Presley_ never_ set his feet on South Korea."

"Joking… Now… Let's get serious… Who approached him?"

"He suspects it was… A _Dark Land Secret Service Bureaucrat_." Davis let out the bombshell.

"WHA~T?" Charles uttered.

"Yeah. You heard me well." Davis told him.

"Why would a Dark Land Secret Service Bureaucrat approach Daniel? I know they have a small branch in South Korea 'cause it's close to them and they're close to Mongolia too, but, apart from that…" Charles frowned.

"Apparently… It was one of those unsatisfied with the system. He admitted being a "useless bureaucrat". Daniel suspects he must've tried to do something rather silly to gain a higher rank, but was relocated as a punishment." Davis explained.

"It sure makes sense… Wait! Does this mean that the so-famous Project: _Walkürenritt_ is staged by _Dark Land_?" Charles grasped.

"We even know what Phase 1 was about."

"Did he tell him all of that?" Charles frowned.

"No. He simply handed him a CD with the info saying that we would appreciate it and vanished right afterwards. He must've though that his act would help us crackpot on the system which he has become unsatisfied with... Zoan Gate Man pulled some jokes on Daniel but then fled… Twilight knows we know and must be gloating about how much time it took us to figure it out…"

"What was that "Phase 1" about, then? And I wouldn't be surprised if Twilight was laughing about that."

"You know how both the fighter craft and the four-legged robots seemed to appear out of nowhere, right?"

"Yeah. They were built with a thin layer of anti-radar material, so it's no wonder." Charles recalled.

"And we know that they could operate within the Cyber World, too, in a very easy manner."

"What are you getting at?"

"Do you remember about _Spectrum_?" Davis asked back.

"_Spectrum_? Yeah. It was Hikari Tadashi – hakase's joint project with Dr. Wily which was shut down roughly twenty-five years ago, around 1985, if memory serves..." Charles nodded.

"They've managed to recreate one of its effects with Twilight's collaboration: use a powerful algorithm to bend real world and Cyber World together. They have created "shafts" made up of cybernetic data which link directly to the Cyber World. This way they can materialize or de-materialize the machines whenever they want from several spots across the world. Twilight must've found a way to replicate the whole "Wily Program"…" Davis explained.

"Holy crap!" Charles uttered.

"Yeah. And those "shafts" contain a terrain recreation tool which allows its opening to imitate the ground around it and be unrecognizable either at naked eye or radar." Davis added.

"Ah! Does the data contain the location of any of those so-called shafts, by the way?"

"There's just one: the Gobi Desert."

"The Gobi Desert…? Ah! That's where those things made their _debut_… So, they created one of those shafts to experiment on the materialization of the Cyber World version of those crafts, then?" Charles ventured while rubbing his chin.

"That's how it looks like. The guy was a pretty good hacker and he left several fake trails pointing to Choina to cover his own tracks. However: some of the info was heavily encrypted. All he knows is that the Foreign Department seems to be in charge of the whole thing from the very beginning." Davis replied.

"The Foreign Department is, huh? So… What happened several years ago with Napalm Man was also…?"

"Yeah. The Napalm Man affair was handed together with the Secret Service's 4th Department. That's where _that guy_ used to work in before he called the quits on it on that December, 2004, day…"

"So… Does this mean that the Foreign Department is something very recent?"

"It'd seem it started about the time Wily began the activities of the WWW, on September, 2004… Apparently… Someone in the High Command decided it would do best to have a separate department which could oversee the whole of the Secret Service and operate whenever it wanted in foreign territory. There are only six people there and they only are obliged to report to the Supreme General… In short: it's cut off from the usual bureaucracy except for some joint stuff."

"By "joint stuff", do you mean the likes of abduction, interrogation, military courts and executions?" Charles made a scowl.

"Yeah. The info suggested that half of the persons working there are materialized Net Navis each under the orders of a Foreign Department operative." Davis made a scowl as well.

"… Then, summing it up: Dark Land wants to invent a new type of warfare."

"That pretty sums it up… However… The informer has heard rumors about the Foreign Department wanting to start producing this stuff there instead of Germany once the whole R&D stuff is completed… And it could happen anytime soon."

"We should ring up our contacts and pass on this info."

"I've been working on a summarized version of the data for easier reading and analysis. I can send it out in encrypted mode anytime."

"That's some wise thinking." Charles looked satisfied.

"Thanks for the compliment, Charlie." Davis smirked again.

"I'm _Charles_ and not _Charlie_!" Charles growled.

"I was teasing you." Davis admitted.

"Yeah. I knew it…" Charles grumbled.

"Heh, heh, heh!" Davis grinned.

08:56 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Hullo~!"

"Aura – chan?"

Nelaus had checked who'd rung his door that morning to see Aura standing outside.

"Surprised?" Aura asked with a smile.

"Huh… Well. Yeah. We really hadn't made any plans for today's morning, had we?" Nelaus frowned.

"Don't worry! I'm just dropping by. I wanted to hear some stuff from you..."

"Oi, Nelaus. Davis sent us some stuff." Isaac announced.

"It's urgent?" Nelaus glanced at Isaac.

"It's "classified" to begin with, so…" Isaac trailed off.

"Classified stuff, you say…? Ever since when do you receive them, anyway?" Felicia asked with a smile.

"What's this: some spy movie?" Aura asked with a smile.

"I-I don't know, really." Nelaus nervously replied.

"… "Not to be shared with people not connected to the Net Police", it says… So, then…" Isaac quoted and trailed off.

"… It'd seem that I've gotta go to the Net Police HQ to talk it there, then..." Nelaus shrugged.

"Oh. What a pity! It was a perfect day to go have a stroll 'round the calm city..." Aura complained.

"Sorry, Aura – chan. Next weekend will surely be different." He apologized with a sigh.

He picked his coat and hat, made sure to have the essentials, and escorted Aura out while he locked down the house.

"See you!"

Nelaus ran off towards the Metro Line station: Aura frowned and brought a hand to his chin.

"Too convenient… Too convenient! Nelaus – kun… Don't you think you can ditch me like this!" Aura grumbled under her breath.

"Don't tell me Sakurai – san passed on you her bad moods after all, Aura - chan." Felicia commented with a skeptical look.

"I don't care!"

Aura ran into the Metro Line station and managed to board a train just as it was about to depart.

"You're not planning to follow him into the Net Police HQ, I hope, Aura - chan?" Felicia hoped.

"I will follow him to Hell itself if I need to!" Aura proclaimed.

"Remember those weird Navis who showed up yesterday… They surely must have a lead as to who is behind this affair." Felicia tried to reason with her.

"The timing reeks!" Aura merely replied.

"Oh. Crap… She's gotten into her "obsessive mood"… There'll be no snapping her outta it." Felicia sighed in defeat.

Aura stepped down once she reached her stop and exited into the street where she immediately spotted the Net Police HQ building: two policemen were keeping watch of the front of the front entrance.

"I have an idea…" Aura smiled.

Felicia rolled her eyes while Aura walked towards the entrance.

"Excuse me!" She called out.

"What can I help you with?" One policeman politely asked.

"I wanted to report a hacking attempt." Aura announced.

"Oh! That's easy! Please go to the 3rd floor and you'll find the officer in charge of the topic." The policeman instructed.

"Thank you very much."

Aura entered and spotted that the lobby was totally empty: the receptionist wasn't there, either.

"Let's see…"

She glanced at a list of departments per floor and spotted what she was looking for:

"NET SAVIORS. 4th FLOOR."

Grinning, she entered the elevator, which was empty, and pressed the 4th floor button.

"Tee, heh, heh."

She emerged into a corridor and looked around: everything was deserted.

"Huh… Over there!"

She soon heard muffled voices close by, so she entered the women's restroom and paid attention.

"… Dark Land is the force behind this whole affair according to reliable information." Nelaus could be heard saying.

"Dark Land… Those assholes." Netto cursed.

"Netto – kun!" Saito protested.

"Sorry! I apologize!" Netto replied.

"Hum. Well. It doesn't matter. We all have had several disgusting experiences regarding Dark Land. I would've said the same thing myself, anyway. You're not to blame, Netto – kun."

"We still don't know who the German manufacturer of those weapons is?"

"No. And now that I think about it, the fact that all data collected by the FOD was sent to southern Sharo makes sense."

"Why, Laika?"

"It could've been a Dark Land facility from which an agent took the data and physically transported it. The place was picked to make us believe in some extremist military complot." Laika was commenting.

"Hum. And the ones pulling the strings are called the Foreign Department, huh… The name says it all, don't ye agree?" Sigma was commenting.

"All bureaucracies act the same way." Blood Shadow shrugged.

"What worries me is the fact that they could deploy attacks from the most unexpected spots… We should investigate the "shaft" at the Gobi Desert and try to find out if we can locate the other ones scattered elsewhere around the world." Isaac suggested.

"Besides… The manufacturer won't be able to hide for much longer. A lot of agencies are looking over there." Blues rallied.

"If those weapons get mass-produced and used against us then we'll be in a deep trouble." Search Man grumbled.

"… Hmmm… I'm sure that the informer murdered by the FOD somehow learnt that Dark Land was behind it so that's why they silenced him time ago." Dark Miyabi guessed.

"That's how it looks." Shadow Man shrugged.

"I now remember that the MI5 caught a Dark Land dude trying to infiltrate the Ministry of Defense… I should call them to learn if they got anything useful from him…" Martin suggested.

"Besides that… _Herr Kount_ told us that he had a suspect on mind regarding the manufacturer." Lander added.

"Something tells me it must be a very patriotic person…" Superintendent Manabe ventured.

"How should we proceed like?" Martin asked.

"I'd like to ask of you, Blackdesu – kun, to go along with Senator Morgangantz and investigate the so-called "shaft"…"

"Roger!"

"Laika – kun could also go along. He could prepare backup just in case."

"Okay. The rest of us will stay put in case they go for another field test in Internet City." Enzan agreed.

"This meeting is concluded, then."

Aura gasped and quickly used the emergency stairs until she reached the 3rd floor: she picked the elevator and exited into the lobby.

"Tee, heh, heh."

She walked past the empty lobby and exited into the street, smiling and acting the innocent: none of the policemen noticed a thing.

"Aura – chan… You've gotten yourself into a mess! That was classified stuff! You weren't supposed to hear to it!" Felicia scolded her in a hushed tone.

"At least now I'm sure Nelaus – kun isn't going out with another girl, anyway." Aura merely replied.

"Aura – chan… You're hopeless from time to time! Did you know about it?" Felicia grumbled: she was obviously frustrated.

"Oh, I knew it, Felicia."

"Huff."

"By the way: maybe you should make "those" bigger?" She teased.

"No." Felicia sentenced with obvious annoyance.

"Tee, heh, heh. I like seeing that annoyed face, cha know…"

"Huff. You're _yuri_ or what?"

"Oh come on! Don't overdo it either."

"Something tells me those "meeting times" at the academy…"

"Chut, chut! The walls have ears! Tee, heh, heh! Ta-ta-ran-dan-tan-da~!"

08:03 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… I've got bad news, fellows!"

"What's up, Scorpion?"

General Meta had been sitting next to the round table and working on something with the laptop: Vulture had been inspecting some bureaucratic-looking documents.

"Huff, huff…"

"Cool it."

Scorpion had run in followed by Cobra and he looked rather out of breath, given how he stopped to regain it.

"We've been hacked by the Choina Secret Service!" He let out the bombshell.

"WHAT?" General Meta roared as he stood up all of a sudden.

"Yeah! I'm serious! Almost all of the data about Project: _Walkürenritt_ is gone! Only the most encrypted data is untouched but the info tells _everything_! They will come and get a hold of our stuff!" Scorpion reported.

"By all the…! I suspected this could happen but I wasn't expecting it to happen before we'd started to produce the stuff here on our Dark Land factories!" General Meta cursed.

"What do we do?" Vulture asked.

"… Grah! I see no other option. We'll have to stick to the schedule. Let's send a warning to the border with Choina just in case they try to sneak a spy." General Meta grumbled.

"Yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if they tried such a move. Let's move it, Cobra!" Scorpion commanded.

General Meta sat down on his chair and resumed typing some stuff into his laptop while grumbling under his breath: Vulture was calm.

"Nothing shall stop us. Nothing."

00:44 AM (Berlin Time)…

"…. Heh, heh, heh… So Mr. Twilight finally provided the info… I knew it: the whole tale was and _is_ amusing…"

The unidentified scientist who had lastly been seen at the Gobi Desert tests was sitting inside of a dimly lit room and typing into a laptop.

He had removed his shades thus showing his purple - irises eyes.

His face appearance seemed that of a man on his early twenties.

He was smiling as he looked up some information.

"This is very interesting indeed… There's no refuting it: this technology _exists_ and it's not an item of a sci-fi movie. I know it better than anyone else. I am one of its main engineers…"

He inputted some commands and a videoconference with Twilight was started: the guy looked smug.

"Well, _Gate_… Satisfied?"

"Truly."

"What do you wish?" Twilight asked with some amusement.

"I'll bury them."

"You'll have to ask permission to IQ – sama."

"But of course. Or else I could bury them… socially."

"Ah. Ah. I see that more probable… Yeah… IQ – sama would like to have them regret their "softness"… Let overwhelming pressure bury them: that'd be fitting, truly."

"_OH YEAH! LET ZA RING HIT ZA ZEILING!"_

"Cloud Man! Stop with your "_Bodies_" parodies already!"

"Well then… I'll speak with IQ – sama, Mr. Twilight. _Auf Wiedersehen_."

"Hmpf… _Auf Wiedersehen_… _Good luck_… Heh, heh, heh! Heh, heh, heh…"


	8. Chapter 8: Hell's Gate Open

**Chapter 8: Hell's Gate Open**

10:10 AM (Mongolia Time), Sunday January the 25th…

"… You guys ready?"

"Sure."

"OK!"

A Dimensional Area had been engaged around the Gobi Desert's "shaft": "CF" Laika was standing near the edge of it along with another two "Cross Fusion" users.

"Here's "CF" Charlie!"

"I thought you disliked that name."

"Says Dave~…"

"Jeez."

"CF" Charles' design included red boots and forearms along with brown chest armor which had a golden cross set on the middle of it: matrixes of on/off squares colored green and blue spread across his forearms and legs.

His helmet's forehead had a blue hexagon-shaped jewel set on its center which was glowing with a pale sapphire glow while his eyes' irises were blue: a mouth-guard having an outer golden edge and a main silver body formed over his mouth.

A backpack with two exhaust tubes colored silver and golden materialized and attached to his back while extending four red lines arching over his body and creating a bluish ring around the chest emblem with four small black rectangles having a red dot on their center.

He had some extra armor coiling around his right arm too and he wielded a pyramidal energy saber colored blue.

"OK! Cadet! Ya ready to hit the walls? Let the Cadets hit the walls!"

"Jeez. Lander. Stop with the "_Bodies_" parodies: why did they suddenly turn SO popular, anyway?"

"Dunno!"

The "Cross Fusion" form retained most of Lander's normal form.

Differences included a coat of arms – like pattern on the helmet's forehead: Martin's hair came out from behind the helmet.

The shoulders remained anatomically correct and had brown leather armor over them.

His arms and elbows had switched to a turquoise color: the forearms (colored dust brown) had some black crisscrossing patterns drawn into them and which looked thicker than Lander's: they glowed with a soft blue glow as well from time to time.

His main body also gained the Alphabet letters "M" and "B" colored red and black each and set left and right beneath the shoulders.

A set of three parallel green lines descended from beneath each letter and then joined into a thick one which ended on a waist belt having two pouches for the Colts.

The legs contained two circling orange bands set above and below the knee which had metallic gray dots drawn at random inside of them.

The boots were white: they had a faint white color like they'd worn out.

As a final detail he sported a cowboy – like hat colored brown and white over his head.

"So! This is the place…" "CF" Charles muttered.

"It looks deep." "CF" Lander sounded slightly nervous.

"Let's go inside. I can see some kind of platforms which we can use to land and rest." "CF" Laika instructed.

The three of them jumped into the apparently endless shaft.

"Jet Vernier!"

They ignited their jetpacks and slowly descended: everyone looked around, fascinated at the blue glow of the walls.

"Wow."

They witnessed data materializing itself in different shapes: various algorithms occupied the whole of the walls.

"… How far have we descended insofar?" "CF" Charles asked after five minutes.

"Hmmm… We've gone past the one kilometer depth mark by now, more or less." "CF" Laika reported.

"You know: I have just thought of a good title for this situation… "Hell's Gate Open"… Whaddya think?" "CF" Lander told them.

"It fits. It really looks like we're going straight to Hell to meet the Grim Reaper." "CF" Charles chuckled.

"Hmpf. I totally agree." "CF" Laika smirked.

They continued descending and stopped in some platforms to rest: they could see some vague shapes at the very bottom of the shaft.

"We're two kilometers deep by now. I'd say this is about three kilometers deep." "CF" Laika announced.

"Hmmm…" "CF" Charles seemed to be fixated on the shapes at the bottom of the shaft.

"Hey! Look over there!" "CF" Lander signaled the east wall.

The other two looked there to spot a figure hovering near the wall which appeared to be studying the wall.

"Identify yourself." "CF" Laika demanded as he aimed his Scope Gun at the figure.

The figure slowly turned around and floated towards them.

"I am Xon' Edos, a mere observer. You must be part of the Net Saviors, given your technology." Xon' Edos introduced himself.

"Hmmm… Oi. Do you have anything to do with either Duo or Slur, perhaps? You look reminiscent of 'em." "CF" Charles questioned.

"I do know who they are. We Observers are an improvement over them. I have been commissioned as an observer of this planet's Network and its evolution. I do believe you know Hikari Saito - dono. We have met not too long ago." Xon' Edos told them.

"Ah. He told me 'bout ya. And what are ya doin' 'ere?" "CF" Charles asked after admitting the fact.

"I was observing these peculiar phenomena. I am able to materialize within the real world due to the effect of your own "Dimensional Area"."

"Have you seen what's down there?" "CF" Lander asked.

"No. I have not. I was analyzing the algorithms: my makers wanted me to catalog every detail." Xon' Edos admitted.

"Good. Do as you like." "CF" Charles told him.

"Let's keep on." "CF" Lander suggested.

The three of them continued descending until they reached the last platform: there were several of the fighting craft and the four-legged robots laid out in perfect aligned rows directly below them.

"So! This is where they store them…" "CF" Laika muttered.

"Hmmm… The material in which they are made seems to originate in Dark Land itself… But if it's taken to Germany for assembly then… Why hasn't anyone said a thing about it?" "CF" Lander wondered.

"Surely they must've smuggled it inside of the country using their connections." "CF" Charles shrugged.

"I do apologize for my interruption. What does "smuggling" stand for, if I may ask?" Xon' Edos asked as he hovered behind the group.

"Huh… You know the materials or alloys which serve up as the base component of objects?" "CF" Charles began.

"But of course." Xon' Edos calmly replied.

"Normally… One has to say _where_ this material comes from…"

"Ah. I see."

"In this case… This material comes from the country of Dark Land. If no - one in Germany said anything about this coming from Dark Land then the material is introduced in a secretive manner… They could put another tag saying it came from Choina, for example. That's what "smuggling" means: it's basically entering something forbidden in a country by secretive and unannounced means." "CF" Charles explained.

"Ah. I do see the meaning. However… You do not know what the identities of the individuals who are assembling these machines are. Is that not right?" Xon' Edos calmly asked.

"You're right. We don't know yet. But a lot of people are looking into that: they can't hide forever." "CF" Lander replied.

"Hmmm… Oh? There are some tags attached to each type of machine, it'd seem… The flying crafts are labeled "Bifrost" while the four-legged robots are labeled "Nibelung"..." "CF" Laika spotted.

"They're named after the Norse mythology, then. Let's scram outta 'ere ASAP." "CF" Charles suggested.

"I agree. I'm not in the mood to face all of those." "CF" Lander agreed.

"I shall return to my craft. Farewell."

"Phew. I felt like Snake trying to sneak past the Marine Corps in the _Discovery_'s hold… That spot IS tense!" "CF" Charles sighed in relief.

"I won't argue that with you." "CF" Lander replied.

"Hmpf. At least this could help us figure out where the rest of the "shafts" are located at…" "CF" Laika muttered.

"In La-Ra-Ma-Land?" Lander made up a joke.

"Where the heck is that?" Davis asked with some annoyance.

"Guess on his imagination." Search Man drily muttered.

"Heh, heh, heh… Too bad, my lads… I felt inspired today! Heh, heh, heh!"

10:49 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… I've got news! The Net Saviors were snooping around the Gobi Desert shaft!"

"Goddamn it!"

Scorpion had come into General Meta's office to report the news and General Meta let out a curse upon hearing them.

"What do we do?" Scorpion asked.

"Hmmm… I have a backup plan in the works. I won't say anything else just in case." General Meta muttered back.

"Do as cha like. I'm off." Scorpion shrugged.

He ran off and General Meta fumed: Vulture came in and saluted and Meta signaled for him to sit down.

"Start figuring out which border outposts are in need of personnel to man them and if they're critical or not."

"Roger."

"On the double."

Vulture stood up, saluted, and walked out while there was a knock and Viper came in while whistling a tune.

"Viper. What now."

"It'd seem the Secret Service guys are terrified: I spread some rumor of cha having found 17 spies in 9 years. It's working."

"Ah! I like that better. Spread some fear in them: remind them we're elite and not commoner plebeian peasants!" He eagerly grinned.

"Sure. I'll go "debrief" another bad boy out there. See cha 'round and beware of Madonna's new shrieking single."

"What?"

Viper giggled and closed the door while Meta grumbled under his breath…

11:56 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Let it be let it not be…"

"That's a parody."

"Hey. They're not as bad as Cloud Man's."

"I know. His "Bodies" parodies are stupid. No wonder Twilight thinks they're stupid too."

Nelaus whistled a tune as he walked down a street and approached an airfield: he was carrying his sports bag.

"Here it is… Aha-hah."

He rummaged on his coat's right pocket and took out a set of keys.

"It's been a while since the last time. I wanna have some excitement today."

"Luckily enough… Uncle Xavier and Vadous were able to negotiate the keeping of this thing with Commissioner Kifune." Isaac grinned.

Neither of them spotted Aura, who was hiding behind a set of trees and seemingly stalking Nelaus.

"Aura – chan… Nelaus – kun ain't going out with any other girl! This stalking makes no sense!" Felicia grumbled.

"Come on! I want to have some thrill. I'm bored of everyday routine, anyway. Ms. Glassy would approve of it." Aura told her.

"Go your own way, Aura – chan. I'm not going to bail you outta this one. And I think that Ms. Glassy has seen too many cheap spy movies, anyway…" Felicia grumbled.

Aura spotted Nelaus entering one of the hangar buildings and closing the door.

"Oho?"

"Get out of this place!"

"Go play _dominatrix_ with Roll." Aura distractedly tried to shoo her away without thinking and blurting the first thing which came to mind.

"HEY!" She protested with obvious annoyance.

The front doors buzzed and unlocked: they retreated to both sides of the hangar and a combat jet rolled out: it looked advanced and was painted in camouflage colors.

"Huh? My, my… Nelaus – kun has a friend who's a military pilot, then? I gotta have a look at it!"

She rummaged into her purse and took out a pair of binoculars.

"I've got my own gadgets too!"

"Take back that of before!" Felicia hissed.

"My bad. I was thinking of the academy times: one of those snob CEO girls organized _dominatrix_ parties at her manor while Daddy and Mommy were away and they all played there amongst them: I never took part but she liked boasting." Aura shrugged.

"That's why it was a VERY GOOD IDEA to quit that place!"

She focused while ignoring Felicia and aimed the binoculars towards the cockpit: she spotted just one person wearing a pale gray bodysuit with several round spots placed around it.

The person also wore a brown leather pilot's helmet with black shades and looked occupied checking the controls.

She could spot Isaac projecting with a hologram from the control console.

"What the…! There's only one person and Isaac is there…? It couldn't be…!" She gasped.

"Huh? He's a part-time pilot, then?" Felicia now looked interested.

"Ms. Glassy was right in the mark, as usual! Nelaus – kun IS a box of secrets!" Aura giggled.

"No good, no good… This gal… She needs someone to tell her to STOP."

15:39 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Here it is… Antarctica…"

"Initiating descent course…"

The plane piloted by Nelaus descended below a sea of clouds and the large frozen continent of Antarctica expanded in front of him: Nelaus was busy checking up a map and some coordinates.

"The sensors indicate that the landing strip is not frozen so it should be safe to land in normal mode." Isaac reported.

Nelaus adjusted his course and headed further into the continent and he soon spotted his goal: an abandoned scientific outpost.

"Gondwana…"

It was composed of several snow-covered buildings and a large hangar building: there was a landing strip present as well.

"I'm taking out the landing gear and reducing speed… Touchdown will occur in less than a minute." Nelaus reported.

"Roger."

Nelaus skillfully maneuvered the plane until he made contact with the landing strip.

"Reverse engines: deploy parachute!"

He reversed the engines and deployed a parachute to halt the plane.

"Phew. That was a neat landing."

The plane slowly stopped and taxied into the hangar which contained an inclined metallic grid with a large burnt mark at the back of it: the doors of the hangar closed and the plane was slowly spun around by a platform built on the ground.

"Good."

"It actually works… That's nice to find out."

"Okay. Equalize pressure: prepare to unseal."

"OK."

Nelaus checked that all systems had shut down and equalized pressure before opening the hatch: he climbed out using two metallic steps built into the fuselage and gracefully landed in the metallic ground.

The bodysuit included black gloves and boots

"Gondwana… I'd never thought I'd be back here…" Nelaus muttered.

"… It looks identical as last time." Isaac commented: he'd now switched to Nelaus' Link PET.

Nelaus walked towards the east side and found a small square platform: he stepped on it and descended a metallic shaft for a few seconds.

"1st stop…"

A metallic corridor span ahead of him lighted by lights set on the walls: he crossed it and descended further down with another elevator platform.

"2nd stop…"

He walked down a second corridor and crossed a large and opened lock door.

"Here…"

This new room was an armored cubical chamber somewhere: this chamber had few objects on it but there was one which stood out.

And that "one" was a tall cylinder with two cone-shaped ends set in the exact middle of it: the main body was over two meters tall and the ends were about 50cm tall each.

Two LCD monitors had been set a few centimeters away from the SW and SE corners and were linked to the main cylinder by wires secured on the ground.

The left monitor displayed life-signs graphs like heartbeat, blood flow and EEG activity: it was dead.

The second monitor looked like it'd been destroyed from the inside and didn't work either.

The north end of the room had two huge armored metallic doors which were opened.

A path had been painted using purple pain from the doors to the front of the cylinder where some small metallic steps allowed one to climb up to the height of the cylinder's main body.

Some waist-high handrails had been deployed along the length of the path as well.

Two pairs of switched off fluorescent tubes were set in the ceiling.

The insides of the capsule had a lot of white plastic wires which formed out of a cylindrical column and which were hanging loose: they had small dome-shaped membranes at their ends.

Two opened purple wrist restrains were visible too.

A curved rail was drawn above and below the north face and it could be seen that the north-facing edges of the curved armored body had two retracted curved glass walls painted black.

Other stuff included a detached oxygen mask hanging from it and some metallic restrains for the arms and legs plus the torso.

Nelaus walked to in front of the cylinder and stood there, as if reflecting upon something: Isaac looked in the same way.

"… No. I cannot… I cannot…" Nelaus began to mutter while shaking. He looked like he was having a moral dilemma.

"Nelaus?" Isaac looked concerned.

"Why… why won't it leave…? This pressure… No… leave me alone… I don't get it… Dr. Lartes… fixed it…" Nelaus kept on muttering.

"… You're late for the institute!" Isaac shouted.

"Ah! Let's run!" Nelaus seemed to snap out of it.

Nelaus started to run out only to stop half-way down the corridor.

"Huh? Ah! But today is a Sunday! Why did you…?" Nelaus asked.

"… I thought that something normal would help you snap outta it. You _must_ go see the Doc. It'd seem there's something left of that witch's ethical program on you. Your reaction just now proved it and having it won't help any of us." Isaac seriously pointed out.

"I… I'm sorry. I…" Nelaus looked repented.

"You mustn't feel sorry for this, Nelaus! It's not your fault! Besides… Why did you decide all of a sudden to come back here?" Isaac asked.

"I… thought I could concentrate on how to orientate my life from now on… Legally… I have the body and mind of a sixteen year old man, but… In truth, I have only been "conscious" for about 7 months… Too many things have happened all of a sudden… I… don't know if I will be able to cope with them…" He argued while sitting down on the ground and closing his arms around his knees.

"Nelaus…" Isaac looked rather concerned.

"I know! It was something stupid to do! This place only triggers fear and insecurity on me…! Isaac! Answer me this: how could you stand being alone for five years? Even if you were a Navi… You'd surely broken down nevertheless…" Nelaus admitted before asking of him.

"… Have you forgotten? I was in hibernation for almost the whole of those five years as well. I was only awoken every once in a trimester to perform a routine check of the life-support system and of your "education". That was all." Isaac calmly replied.

"… Ah… That's true… I… had forgotten…" Nelaus sighed with sadness on his voice.

"… Nelaus. This place will only bring you bad memories and insecurity. Remember: we're not alone anymore. We've got a lot of companions: we have normal lives. Let's set the past aside and move on forward towards a bright tomorrow." Isaac told him.

"… You're right. Let's go home." Nelaus muttered as he stood up.

"If you don't feel well, then I can do the piloting instead, you know, Nelaus." Isaac offered.

"… You better do. I don't feel well. I need to take an aspirin when we get home." Nelaus replied.

Nelaus undid the earlier path, walking a bit erratically.

"Huff, huff…"

He climbed into the plane and Plugged Isaac into the control panels to allow him to pilot: he leant backwards on the seat and breathed deeply as if getting ready for the take-off.

"Take-off!" Isaac announced.

The engines roared and expelled a stream of plasma which hit the metallic grid and left a second burnt mark over the first one: the plane taxied off the landing strip and climbed over the gray clouds.

"I'm… going to sleep for a bit. Wake me up once we get home." Nelaus announced.

The plane continued its route back towards Japan while Nelaus fell asleep: Isaac glanced at him and sighed.

_Don't be confused, Nelaus. We can leave our sad past behind and find happiness…_

Isaac stared at Nelaus' sleeping face for a few seconds before focusing on piloting the plane.

"Guess it'll be dusk by the time we get there… This plane is very fast but we don't want to go at Mach 1 either… Ah… Nelaus. It was a wise thing to do, to run away from Anaya… The bitch would've eventually made you an accomplice of tortures and murder and all…" He muttered.

"… I'm a freak… Damn it…" Nelaus stirred.

"Cool it, Nelaus… You need to relax… Breathe deeply…"

18:53 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Prepare for landing… Landing!"

It was already night when Nelaus' plane touched down in the airfield on the outskirts of Akihara Town: Isaac took care of everything and taxied the plane into the hangar: he opened the cockpit.

"Nelaus. We've arrived." He whispered.

"Hmmm… Okay…" Nelaus muttered.

He yawned and stretched before he jumped off the plane and picked his raincoat and hat after storing the helmet inside of the sports bag.

"Let's lock…"

He exited the hangar after making sure it was properly locked and the alarm system was on.

"Oh. There's a taxi… Taxi!" Nelaus signaled for it.

The taxi slowed down and stopped next to Nelaus, who climbed into the back seat.

"Please go to Constitution Street 5." Nelaus requested.

"Roger, costumer – san."

The taxi moved across the streets and Nelaus looked out at the people moving up and down, as well as the cars.

"We have arrived." The driver announced.

Nelaus used the PET to electronically pay the fee and climbed down: he headed towards his house and unlocked it.

"Home… But is this really "home"…? Or am I fated to be a wandering nomad…?"

He stepped into the living room and took out the raincoat and hat: he left the sports bag near the stairs to the first floor.

"Huff. I'll climb it up later."

He sat down on the sofa and stretched.

"If you're not hungry then you should go sleep. Tomorrow is a Monday, after all." Isaac pointed out.

"… Guess so."

Nelaus sluggishly stood up and walked into the kitchen.

"Let's have yoghurt…"

He opened the fridge and grabbed yoghurt to eat: he ate it up and drank some water before he walked out of the kitchen.

"… Huff."

The entrance bell suddenly rang. Nelaus frowned and looked at his wrist watch.

19:37 PM

"Who could it be?" He wondered.

He walked towards the door and checked with the peep hole: he frowned again and unlocked it: Aura was standing in front of him.

"Aura – chan? Shouldn't you be at home by now?" Nelaus frowned.

"… Can we talk?" Aura asked.

"Uh… Sure. Come in."

"Thanks."

Nelaus guided Aura to the living room and prepared some tea: he brought it there and had a cup.

"What did you want to talk about, Aura – chan?"

"Nelaus – kun… You haven't been totally honest with me, after all." Aura began saying with a hint of worry.

"… Huh… Sorry. What do you mean by that?" Nelaus frowned.

"_Why_ can you pilot a military plane?" Aura asked.

Nelaus felt all blood on him chilling: his hands shook, and he looked nervous.

"I… I…" He couldn't seem to find the right words for it.

"I doubt it being part of the Net Saviors."

"… You're right on that, Aura - chan. That plane… It was given to me… by my old boss..." Nelaus admitted while hanging his head down.

"Your "old boss"? But didn't you study at an all-boys' school at Chicago before coming here?"

"… That's a cover Uncle Xavier and the Net Police made up ever since August..."

"What? But why would they make such a cover?" Aura frowned.

"… Truth is… Uncle Xavier is not my real uncle. He took me in and he legally became my uncle, but he used to be my old boss' godfather… I was an orphan. I was forced to become a member of a Mafia…" Nelaus revealed.

"Goodness!" Aura gasped.

"Is that true, Isaac – kun?" Felicia asked him.

"… Yeah. It's true." Isaac looked down.

"However… I grew tired of having to intercept cargo planes… Eventually, I reunited the courage to approach the Net Police and turn myself in. They decided that, since I was young, I could be remedied, so they didn't sentence me. I confessed everything I knew about the Mafia and they rounded them up. However… Since I'd grown attached to the jet… We struck a deal: the Net Police would store it on a hangar of its property and officially label it as "confiscated". In reality I'm allowed to pick it anytime I want to. Since it's built with anti-radar material then no radar can detect me crossing any airspace and I don't have to worry about authorizations over borders."

_Well. I'll soften it up but more or less it's what happened so…_

"… Sorry. My curiosity got the hold of me, and… But I shouldn't have asked you. It must be very hard for you…" Aura looked repented.

"It's okay… I… knew I would have to admit it sooner or later… I couldn't live in a lie forever…" Nelaus looked rather relieved.

"… I… will be going. See you tomorrow morning, Nelaus – kun." Aura told him as she hurriedly stood up.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow, Aura – chan."

"Good-bye, Isaac – kun."

"Good night, Felicia – chan."

Aura departed the house and Nelaus sighed.

"Too close…"

He walked upstairs and changed into gray-colored pajamas before he headed towards his single bed and lied on it.

_I'm sorry, Aura – chan… But I cannot ever discern the "real" truth to you: it's too hard for anyone to accept… Some things are better off NOT knowing… Hence why delicate info is kept away until it's no longer vital or important… _

"Isaac. Set the alarm clock at 7 o'clock."

"Roger. Try to think of some of Sigma's jokes to vent it off."

"I know…"

"Ah! Dragon's latest banner… "If the cave-explorer shall not go to the cave then the cave shall go to the cave-explorer: if that is not the case then they must ask Oracle 343 Guilty Spark about the route."…"

"Hah, hah, hah! Sigma! That's your handiwork: only you would think of mixing _Halo_ and Chinese proverbs!" Nelaus laughed.

"He's Random Crazy Mix Burn Man."

"RCMB Man! Hah, hah, hah… Well… Good night, Isaac… Sigma… Hah…!"

19:58 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hey. Guys. Isaac has come over."

"Hello."

Netto and Saito, who were also dressed in their pajamas, were sitting in front of the computer and looking at Isaac.

"You look a bit troubled, Isaac." Saito pointed out.

"Yeah. It's Nelaus… He's had kind of a breakdown today's afternoon... You should try to cheer him up during this week or else things will get very bad." Isaac explained.

"What exactly happened, then? Nelaus usually doesn't get into trouble: he's very cautious…" Netto frowned.

"He grabbed the plane and decided to go visit Gondwana. Once he spotted his capsule, he began to experience fear and it looks like some of those subconscious programs began to torment him. I managed to snap him outta it, though."

"Oh. He should go see Dr. Lartes, then." Sigma suggested with a hint of worry, for once.

"Of course, that's what we're gonna do… Aura – chan spotted us, so Nelaus managed to slightly improvise a convincing explanation based a bit on our past. Thankfully she swallowed it and repented asking him about it. I'd say we don't have to worry on that front." Isaac added.

"Man! Aura – chan seems to have gotten a stalker mood."

"Looks like it…"

"Don't worry about Nelaus. We'll cheer him up in one way or another."

"Thanks, guys. I owe you a big one." Isaac sighed in relief.

"You don't owe us anything. We're friends, after all."

"Yeah! We're companions, too!" Sigma added as he patted Isaac's right shoulder.

"Guys… Thank you, really… I'll be going. Good night. Oh! And Sigma: your motto will become the week's hash-tag."

"Mwah, hah, hah…"

"Nelaus has been through too much in just half a year, thus it's no wonder he was about to have a breakdown. We must watch over him."

"Yeah. I get the picture." Netto nodded in agreement.

"Mwah, hah, hah… Dragon's newest banner looks like a cocktail improvised by Cocktail and Improvise Man…"

"Please… That means cha." Blood Shadow fumed.

"Did cha call for _tea_?"

"You're making a pun: _ocha_ is "tea" in Japanese."

"Knock, knock goes Knock – Knock Man! Hah, hah, hah!"

"Huh! Zoan Gate Man: he was knocking at the firewall and stormed off before the automated defenses came on." Blood Shadow groaned.

"Jeez. Let's hope Twilight doesn't try to torment him further: that's the last thing we'd need! Go hack those things into _World of Warcraft_ or some MMORPG!" Netto grumbled.

"Mwah, hah, hah… But the Janissaries have begun to chase 'im: 10 of 'em with 8 points of experience…"

"Good, good. Make them feel the angst." Saito grinned.

"Hum. Let's try talking about something cheerier… I know: Mario will tell Luigi to let him shine in the mansion but then Luigi will say "Mario's Mansion" doesn't sound so nice." Blood Shadow improvised.

"Heh, heh, heh. I can totally picture it: Senator Pingole will have Luigi rescue Mario from the haunted manor…" Netto chuckled.

"OK. Let's hit the sack for tomorrow."

"Mwah, hah, hah… Let the sacks hit the floor! Good night, fellows!"


	9. Chapter 9: Reencounter

**Chapter 9: Reencounter**

07:26 AM (Japan Time), Monday January the 26th…

"… Fua~h…"

Nelaus exited his house looking sleepy: the streets were still semi-unlit but he simply locked the house and headed towards the institute.

"Yo! Nelaus!"

"…'Morning!"

Nelaus turned to the right to see Netto and Saito catching up to him.

"Uh-huh… Morning… Guys…" Nelaus barely repressed a yawn.

"Are you O.K.? You look like you haven't slept much." Netto asked.

"Don't forget to wash your face on the restroom once we get there. History is our first subject." Saito pointed out.

"Yeah… You're right…"

"… You know what? Vincent goes around sayin' Ameroupe's national treasure is a rotten potato." Blood Shadow told Isaac.

"BWAH, HAH, HAH! A rotten potato, he says! BWAH, HAH, HAH!" Isaac exploded into laughter.

"Yeah. And he claims that Mexico's own national treasure is a _golden_ potato." Sigma added.

"Heh. Vincent is as crazy as ever…" Nelaus smiled and looked slightly animated.

"That's for sure." Netto smiled at him.

"He's gonna believe he's the King of the World next." Saito added.

"He is gonna be the King of the World? Why not?" Nelaus chuckled.

"'Cause he won't know what "uranium" means to begin with."

"Mwah, hah, hah! And they'll 'im: 'You're _FIRED_!'" Sigma added.

07:27 AM (Paris Time)…

"… Hum. Feels good to return to Paris from time to time…"

Dr. Spimer was seated in an outdoor café's terrace and drinking some coffee: he looked a bit sleepy.

Today, he sported black business attire with a red tie.

He was using his reading glasses as well to read _Le Monde_.

"… Pierre? Is that you?" A woman's voice asked.

"Huh?"

Dr. Spimer looked up from the newspaper to spot a woman.

She looked around his same age: between her last twenties and her early thirties.

She wore a brown leather sleeveless vest over a green wool jumper, jeans and heeled shoes.

Her hair was blond and reached half-way down her back.

Her eyes' irises were brown.

"Do excuse me. I am not sure if I remember you." Dr. Spimer politely told her.

"… You're telling me you've forgotten me? Let's see… Who was the only one in Paris University who supported your thesis about the carbon-chemistry-based materials?" The woman asked with a smug smile and sounding amused.

"… Veronica Deuxer?" He gasped in recognition.

"Ta-dan! That's me!" The woman, Veronica, smiled.

"Goodness! It's been… What… Almost a decade? You haven't changed at all!" Dr. Spimer looked really surprised.

Veronica sat down on a chair in front of the same table and smiled at Dr. Spimer.

"What a coincidence! Who'd said we'd meet each other in a random Champs Élysées café?" Veronica giggled.

"You have become a freelance journalist as you aimed to do back then, after all?" Dr. Spimer asked her.

"Yeah! I've been investigating a bit around… I know of your success in the development of the materials you spoke about 'cause I realized those were the cause the Ameroupe Army was able to reduce fabrication costs by 9%."

"That was something obvious."

"By the way… Do you still live here, in Paris, or did you move elsewhere over the years?"

"I've shifted residence to Lyon… That was over seven years ago, more or less."

"… Say, I've heard some stuff about you leading some kind of syndicate named "Cypher"…"

"It's no more than fool's talk. I lead a private company specialized in the investigation and production of my designed materials to then sell them to several international organizations. My rivals are trying to shun my company's reputation by making up those stories because I have the monopoly over it." Dr. Spimer calmly explained.

"Ah. I suspected so. I've also heard about something named "Council of Armies"… And your name is sometimes linked to it. It's another fabrication?"

"… Not exactly. This "Council of Armies" is the management council of one PMC. It was banded together to try to design a PMC which instead of using violence would try to force the enemies to fall back. They use all kind of tear gas, flash-bang grenades, stun grenades, defense lines… But they try to avoid unnecessary deaths overall. And I have nothing to do with it."

"Speaking of weapons and PMCs… I've heard that a German company has been developing some kind of new weapons for someone…"

"Oh? Is that so?"

"The company is named Schneider Inc."

"Ah. They're under a contract with the French Air Force."

"Who told you that? That's not true. It's not France. It's another country in Asia." Veronica told him.

"Hmmm… Choina?" Dr. Spimer tried to guess.

"Wrong." Veronica smirked.

"Thailand?"

"Wrong."

"Laos?"

"Wrong."

"India?"

"Wrong."

"Sharo?"

"Wrong."

"Mongolia?"

"Wrong!" Veronica now looked exasperated.

"I give up." Dr. Spimer admitted.

"Dark Land."

Dr. Spimer had been drinking some of his coffee when he suddenly choked and began to cough.

"_Mon Dieu!_" He uttered.

"What? You weren't expecting it?" Veronica frowned.

"B-but Schneider Inc. is a company with a powerful reputation! They wouldn't go so low as to make a contract with Dark Land!"

"W-well…"

"They'd rather do it with France or King Land!" Dr. Spimer argued.

"Sorry. But this is reality, Pierre." Veronica told him.

"_Tonnere de Brest_! Schneider Inc. is the contractor… We had the guy in front of our noses and tossed him aside because of his reputation… Times sure have changed, then… Wait. _Who_ is the current president of Schneider Inc.?" Dr. Spimer muttered before asking Veronica.

"Rudolph von Schneider, son of Francis von Schneider. He was promoted three years ago." Veronica announced.

"… I'm… baffled."

"Man! You never tended to let anything surprise cha back then, did cha know?" Veronica smirked.

"I've changed."

"That's the _clichéd_ line."

"… I'll have to tell my acquaintance. He will find out more info."

"By the way, Pierre…" Veronica began.

"What?"

"Even though you still have French nationality and your residence is listed as being in Lyon… The apartment over there is owned by the France Safe Life Inc. president. You don't know how to cover your tracks well enough!"

"Ah… Eh… Are you sure that you have the right address?"

"Yeah. I'm sure of it, Pierre. Where do you live at, then? If you live here in Paris… Why did you try to hide it? Did you fear that one of the Paris University idiots might recognize you and come knocking at your door to mock you after a whole decade?"

"Sort of …"

"Hmmm… I suspect that "Cypher" is more than a vulgar company…"

"Why?"

"I've never found where its HQ is supposed to be at. Why would they hide like that?" Veronica looked suspicious.

"It's for safety reasons. This way we can avoid the rivals from trying to infiltrate spies or carrying out sabotage."

"I will admit that your reply does make sense, Pierre. Another thing picking me is… I have a friend at the Interpol. I asked her a favor to look up if you'd entered the country recently but there was no such register, and you're registered as a Lyon resident. Pierre! This reeks a lot: did you know that?"

"… _Need Not to Know_." Dr. Spimer coolly told her.

"Oh! Pierre! You can't be serious!" Veronica complained.

"I am, Veronica. It's for your safety. Don't try to burrow so deep or you'll crave your own grave. There are powerful people who will go to any extreme to get a hold on where we are at."

"… Pierre… You've gotten yourself into some mess, right?"

"It's not a "mess". It's business."

"…I see that you won't say anything else… However… You owe me the fact that I was the only one who encouraged you to finish your thesis. _Adieu_, Pierre."

Veronica stood up and walked away at a brisk pace, obviously offended: Dr. Spimer sighed and folded the newspaper.

_I apologize, Veronica. Dark Land would try to use you to find out more about us if you had the info. I think I shall employ the services of certain persons to reinforce Cypher's firewalls: Zoan Gate Man lurking around her means no good: Twilight's set the sight on us and must want to figure out if the "Mega Hurricane" or the "S" Units have some weakness. Maybe I should send the Elite 3 to check out things in Japan._

He paid and left but failed to spot Veronica following him while smirking…

09:18 AM (Berlin Time)…

"… Hum. Our stock market assets are on the rise… Good…"

Schneider was working on something inside of his company's President's Office with the laptop when the interphone buzzed.

"What is it?" Schneider asked.

"_Herr Präsident_, _Herr Kount _Serbauf is here. He requests an urgent meeting." A man announced.

"… Show him in, please." Schneider calmly replied.

"Roger, _Herr Präsident_."

The door of the office opened and _Kount_ Serbauf stepped in: he wore his business attire and looked in a rather bad mood.

"_Herr Kount_. It has been a while." Schneider calmly greeted.

"It has been, young von Schneider. However. It's obvious why I have come here." _Kount_ Serbauf replied.

"You are going to discuss my company's former contract, is that not the case?"

"Excuse me? "Former" contract, you say? When did it cease, then? We thought it was still up and running."

"Two days ago. All the materiel was sent to the Dark Land factories for mass-production. We were only to develop the test units and carry out field tests. The head of the R&D lab came up with the designs for the _Nibelungs_ and the _Bifrosts_. The _Valkyries_ were a joint work between him and me, Herr _Kount_ Serbauf." Schneider admitted.

"Why did you pick Dark Land over any other possibility, young von Schneider?"

"Alas. The current state of affairs forced me. Sharo and Ameroupe are both bitter with us Germans even after sixty years since the end of WWII. France and King Land are also rather resentful."

"Huh. You've got a point there."

"Italy normally welcomes us but their military force is supplied by a Qatar company. Switzerland continues to be stubbornly neutral. Spain welcomes us as well: but the current crisis has hit them too hard to spend on foreign companies. I do not trust the Gulf powers. South Ameroupe is a chaos. Choina negates any external influence. Only countries like Singapore, Polynesia and such are eager for such designs. However… It was Dark Land who approached us." Schneider narrated with obvious frustration and tiredness.

"… I had no idea the thing was so bad… My company also has met trouble in some countries, but we never had to hope for a calling… I suspect I cannot blame you, young von Schneider. I would have done the same thing on your place."

"… As you can see, this is how things happened. I did coin the codename for the project because, as a good German, I am a passionate of the Nibelung operas. There are predictions that our country's economy will be able to recover and strengthen, compared to others."

"By the way… Do you know any names which might help us?"

"My contact was a gentleman whom I knew as _Herr_ General Meta. I know no further." Schneider admitted.

"Good. I shall take my leave. I do hope you have a better fortune next time, young Schneider. Farewell."

"Farewell, _Herr Kount_ Serbauf."

"Ah! Before I forget it: did you have any contact with "Twilight"?"

"_Herr_ Gate, the R&D Lab Chief, did. I hired him 3 years ago and he proved to be an extremely efficient Chief but he seems to want to achieve some personal goal so he's going to take a leave for a while…"

"Alright. We'll research his background and, if needed, approach him. We will meet again."

"Roger, sir."

17:37 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Alright. What do you expect us to find here, Jasmine?"

"Chut. Wait and see, Justin and George."

"Is this really our target?"

"Tee, heh, heh. Who knows, Justin?"

"Jeez. George… Check the data."

"Sure."

Three figures had sneaked into a warehouse building somewhere and were chatting amongst them.

One of them was a girl on her late teens or early 20s.

She could be over a meter and eighty tall and had short black hair.

She wore a black long-sleeved t-shirt along with black jeans, fingerless black gloves and black sneakers.

She also sported a pair of sunglasses over her eyes.

She also wore a utility belt with two knife cases and two gun pouches.

"This place is 555 meters SSE of our target!"

"Oh yeah? George Clooney?"

"Jeez."

Another guy of similar height and age was standing there.

His hair was blonde in coloring.

He sported the same gear and clothes.

"Why did you lead us here, then?"

"Who knows, Justin?"

Justin had green-tinted hair instead and could be one or two inches shorter in height than George.

"Beef! Tuna! Beef & Tuna! Great Commander came~!"

"Hiya~… Ex – Great Commander."

"Huh! You guys again? What are you doing in MY Secret Base?"

"Secret Base, come on…"

Commander Beef walked in through the left door and Jasmine grinned at him to surprise him: Shark Man rolled his eyes in exasperation.

"I wanted to tease ya~… Saloma – san is going to marry the handsome new neighbor!"

"WHAT?" He gasped.

"Come on." Shark Man groaned.

"Saloma~! Let me be your best ma~n!"

Commander Beef ran off while both guys sighed and slapped their foreheads in defeat: they heard a chuckle and saw Zoan Gate Man standing in a corner with 4 Mettools labeled "49" to "53".

"The gateman of Sharkey Street showed up?"

"Hmpf. Guess that."

"So? What's the catch?" Justin demanded.

"What's Twilight up to today?" George questioned next.

"Heh, heh, heh. You needn't know… yet."

"In 2012?" Jasmine joked.

"Nah. I guess in a while of Wales!" He made a silly rhyme.

"OH YEAH! LET ZA AGENTS HIT ZA WALL!"

Cloud Man's 3D image formed there, laughing.

"That's stupid." The three of them complained.

"Hah! It's brilliant!"

"Beware, foolish humans… The Composer will extirpate your memories and consciousness from those bodies and implant them into the genetic code of lesser post-apocalyptic humans! The Didact has spoken from Charum Hakkor!" Twilight's amplified voice boomed out.

"We're SO scared, really. Spoiling the next _Halo_ game already?" Justin complained.

"Go collect lilies!" Jasmine fumed.

"Better yet: go dig a Metro Line tunnel using Drill Man." George smirked.

"Hmpf! George Sears! Take over the Big Shell!"

"Not with the MSG joke again!" He groaned.

"The Precursors spoke! Your kindred will inherit the Mantle!"

"Stop spoiling us!"

"Are you ready to wait 2 years to know it?" Twilight teased.

"We can: Halo 3 seemed remote back when the "Nebula" campaign but by now it's been out for over one year. MGS4 seemed remote: it came out too. So it's just a matter of waiting." Jasmine shot back.

"Rule over them, little girl!"

"I'm not little girl! I'm 20 already!" Jasmine protested.

"And you can't be older than, say 26." George added.

"Sod off. We're going to do our job." Justin grumbled as he cocked his gun and headed for the door.

"Beware of Uroboros!"

"Don't spoil _Biohazard 5_ next: we know it's coming in about a month and few days from now. Go plot with Wesker." George fumed.

"Let's leave them to gloat in vain." Jasmine shrugged.

"Hah! Wayward souls: may you end up in the Palace of Pain aboard Installation 07! Become guinea-pigs for the Primordial! Hah, hah, hah!"

18:55 PM (Melbourne Time)…

"… So? Master. Will you tell me the trick already?"

"Fine. I feel in a good mood…"

"Hypnotic post-suggestion or…?"

"No, no… Way simpler! Do you know about _MGS_?"

"A buddy of mine's a fan… He showed me the games last year."

"Good. Maybe you remember there's a fellow named Raiden."

"The blonde newbie who becomes a cyborg _ninja…_? Yeah."

Twilight and Philip were talking in the living room of their refuge and Twilight began to explain.

"I don't know if you know it, but during his mission on the "Big Shell" facility, he ended up discovering that the "Colonel" who had been giving him orders by radio and the one he'd never met in the flesh was but a simulation set up by a powerful neuro-optical AI… They stimulated activity in dormant parts of the brain and using his experiences and expectations they led him to build up that "Colonel"…"

"So you mean that you somehow made them believe that the events which happened on those two days were not real?"

"Correct. I stimulated their chip implants regulating their memories and mindset… I simply had to input some expectations and fragments combed from previous experiences… So both ended up believing they'd made a pact amongst them and their classmate to "spice things up" and they thought it was a game, "friendly" S&M… Hence why they didn't react or didn't struggle…" He detailed.

"Oh. I see. And then…?"

"Then when we warp them back at the stall, I take profit of their unconsciousness to reduce brain activity and "remove" those thoughts while setting up a subconscious instinct… When they're called out their wake-up makes them automatically believed they dozed off."

"And neither of them found it odd?"

"No. That was thanks to stimulating previous records and using the "closed feed" between both of their implants… The nanomachines helped as well… And I guess Laertes… I mean… Lartes… didn't find anything odd because they didn't display weird activity peaks and I fooled the GPS beacon to make them believe they were in school… It's not like he monitors them 24/7… And they've already dismissed those experiences as well…" He continued.

"Wow."

"IQ – sama told me to beat around the bush so I came up with this between the end of the FOD and the beginning of this project… Now I dunno what Gate's up to but IQ – sama gave him permission to beat around the bush… She wants us to try to find a long way around and make it subtle… _Kyoudai_ expects me to be blunt and straight to the point so he can't imagine I'd come up with such a complicated system."

"Cool."

"Heh. Thanks, Darth Bapgei… Did it feel good?"

"Yeah. My first time having others do me blowjobs… I felt the power I had as the "Master"… How I ruled over them… How they belonged to me: body, mind…" He eagerly grinned.

"Heh, heh, heh. You'd do a good trainer. But I want you to keep on with your sword and knife training. Just in case… And maybe I'll send you after one of those agents too…"

"Roger."

"OH YEAH! LET ZA SOLDIERS HIT ZA SAND!"

"Cloud Man. Shut up." Freeze Man snapped.

"R-roger, sir!" He gulped.

"Jeez." The others complained.

"If only this guy knew when to stay quiet…" Twilight fumed.

18:13 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Yeah… Like that… Pump me, Tooru – kun!"

"Yeah… Feels good…"

"Heh, heh, heh. Tooru – kun feels as good as ever… Doesn't it feel SO good to be in the middle when in a threesome? Here: prize."

"Yikes! Don't lick my ears from behind, Saito – kun… It tickles!"

Netto, Hikawa and Saito were having sex in Hikawa's bedroom: their school uniforms had been lazily tossed atop chairs and they were all atop Hikawa's bed.

Netto was sitting on his fours and looked exultant as Hikawa (on his knees) pumped in and out of his ass while gripping Netto's waist to keep his balance: Saito was sitting on his knees too and pumping into Hikawa from behind while closing his arms around his waist too.

Netto had a vibrator stuffed into his ass along with Hikawa: Saito had it along with the string of anal beads.

The three of them had clothes pegs connected by a string clipped on their nipples.

"Heh, heh, heh. It's just Monday but I felt an urge to do this." Saito admitted.

"Curious: I had that same feeling. I guess a two-week-break was too much for us to bear!" Netto chuckled.

"O~h… Yeah… I missed it too… This "soft" game… Maybe we should "spice" it a bit one day… Maybe we could go by small stages and come up with something new each week?" Hikawa suggested.

"That doesn't sound bad…" Netto grinned.

"Let's give it a while to think it over." Saito advised.

"By the way, I got a photo of Dragon – san's banner… What's it today?"

"Huff." Both sighed.

"_That_ bad?" Hikawa rolled his eyes.

"Totally." Netto groaned.

"… "Where floating objects meet rigid objects and sin ensues"…"

"… In short: an inn or somewhere els where a woman and a man meet and have sex?" Hikawa found it stupid too.

"I suspect Twilight's black humor behind it: not even Sigma can come up with something so LAME."

"And Shadow Man would rather put some RPG parody."

"No wonder." Hikawa sighed.

"Tease me, Tooru – kun!" Netto rallied.

"Fine." He grinned.

He picked Netto's cock and began to rub it while rubbing the head too: Saito kept on licking Hikawa's ears and slowly twisting the clothes pegs or pulling the skin on his balls to totally tease him: Hikawa moaned while Netto and Saito chuckled or giggled.

"Coming!" Hikawa gasped.

"Whoa!"

"Heh!"

Hikawa released and filled Netto's ass: his released gripped Saito's cock and he filled him up too while Netto also released and he gripped Hikawa's cock to make him spurt out another two times: they panted and giggled or chuckled.

"Ah… Refreshing! Now I feel ready to tackle whatever this week throws at us to begin with." Netto admitted.

"Math included?" Saito joked.

"Guess it's included on the deal." Hikawa joked.

They all chuckled or giggled and blinked to each other…


	10. Chapter 10: Open conflict

**Chapter 10: Open conflict**

09:02 AM (Japan Time), Thursday January the 29th…

"… Scope Gun!"

"Sonic Boom!"

"Useless."

Blues and Search Man were facing two of the _Valkyries_, who had shown up on Internet City again: all of their attacks were being blocked or nullified for the time being.

"Grah! Search Man! Can't you find a way around their shields?"

"Davis and Lander did say they were not good at close-quarters combat… I'll hold them off and you unleash a Program Advance on them." Search Man suggested.

"Fine."

Blues jumped backward while Search Man shot towards the helmet of one of the _Valkyries_ to get its attention.

"I'm your opponent!"

"So be it, Net Savior. Be gone." The _Valkyrie_ automatically replied.

Search Man rolled across the ground and dodged the two _Valkyries_' swords.

"Dream… Sword!" Blues roared.

The powerful shockwave headed towards the _Valkyries_.

"Battle Chip, Area Steal! Slot In!" Laika announced.

Search Man moved away and let the Dream Sword hit both _Valkyries_ fully: they shrieked and were deleted in a brutal explosion.

"Phew! We managed to take them down…" Search Man sighed in relief.

"Yeah. But I'm sure it won't be so easy the next time." Blues grumbled.

09:09 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Elec Wheel!"

Thunder Man created an electric tornado around his body and shot forward towards one _Valkyrie_: the _Valkyrie_ tried to cut through the tornado with the sword, but there was nothing inside: Thunder Man had jumped into the air.

"Thunderbolt!"

A thunderbolt fell down from the sky and hit the _Valkyrie_ fully, leaving her roasted to a crisp and blackened.

"_Chance_! Go, Thunder Man! Program Advance!"

"Program Advance!"

"Hi – Cannon, Triple Slot In!"

"Giga Cannon!"

The brutal blast delivered the _coup de grace_ to the already weakened _Valkyrie_ and blasted her away.

"You know what, Raoul? I don't think that these things will be able to ensure Dark Land's triumph. I'd rather stake my money on those bloody robots." Thunder Man commented.

"These things seem to be pure show-offs as if to make us think Dark Land is blessed by them." Raoul grumbled.

"So? What do we do next?"

"Heh. _Rock n roll with King Raoul_!"

"Not that again…"

"_Go! Masked Thundering Thunders_!"

"Stop making up those stupid titles!" Thunder Man complained.

"Too bad, Thunder Man! I, Thunderbird, am inspired! I got visited by Inspiration Fellow! _Let's go! Thunderbird's return into action_! Hah!"

08:18 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… Oi, Meta… We've already lost some of the _Valkyries_. Is that alright?"

"It's necessary, Scorpion."

General Meta was talking with Scorpion, who had reported him the news: he didn't seem worried.

"By using them as guinea-pigs… We can find out what defects they have and fix them so that they won't fall so easily. Besides… Once we manage to mass-produce them… There won't be anyone who will be able to stand up to them." General Meta replied.

"If you say so…" Scorpion scratched the back of his head.

"Let them be and all will be fine." General Meta assured him.

"I wonder about that. _Comrade_."

They both gasped and spotted Twilight leaning towards the right in the door's opening: General Meta cursed and drew his service revolver which he aimed at Twilight but he merely hummed _Let It Be_.

"Twilight! What's this about?"

"Nothing. Just teasing you: I'm like the Joker… I appear and disappear when I feel like it." He chuckled.

"What are you up to, you and Dr. Gate? I think you've only gotten involved because Dr. Gate got into contact with your Mistress."

"Correct, Lestrade. I'll praise you yet, my fellow."

"GRJZKTHL!" He grumbled something undecipherable out of pure annoyance.

"I'd rather applaud Ms. Viper's labor. Her Grace and Ms. Bella are a terrifying combination. IQ – sama sends them Their greetings."

"The last thing we needed!" Scorpion fumed.

"I'd rather say you should find a bunker, _Comrade_…"

"And what if I don't?"

"Then Batman will beat you to a pulp."

"What's this scandal? Meta – sama: are you alright, sir?"

"Scorpion – sama, sir?"

Vulture and Cobra ran there while having his service revolvers drawn too but Zoan Gate Man formed in front of them and so did 8 Mettools numbered from "56" to "64".

"Metto~!"

"What the heck? What does this mean?" Vulture demanded.

"Answer!"

"Heh, heh, heh… Welcome to the experiment, fellows."

"What "experiment"?"

"To drive you to the edge of your patience and see if you'd rather blow up or drown up." Zoan Gate Man chuckled.

"That's idiotic!" Both complained.

"The Synchro Duo!" Zoan Gate Man suddenly announced.

"Wha~t?"

"Let's go back, Zoan Gate Man. _See you around_."

Twilight smirked before they all de-materialized and the four guys grumbled: they heard giggling and both Viper and Bella walked over there while looking amused.

"I guess you messed it up, Gin, dear. Vermouth tells cha that."

"Too bad, Vodka. Kir says you lack imagination."

The four men fumed as both women walked past them and elsewhere: General Meta brought both fists down on his desk.

"I knew it was a bad idea to rely on this snobby jerk! _Damnation and hell_!"

17:41 PM (Japan Time)…

"…Home, sweet home."

Nelaus entered his house on the same day's afternoon and stretched: he deposited the sports bag on the ground and sat down into the sofa.

"Do I have any new emails, Isaac?"

"Hmmm… Yeah. You have one. The sender is… Weird. The name tag says: "G"… Do you know anyone whose name starts with a G?" Isaac frowned.

"I don't." Nelaus quickly replied.

"Maybe it's spam?"

"Try scanning it."

"Hmmm… It's clean. Do I open it?" Isaac asked.

"Do so."

"Okay… The message goes like this… "I am the servant. I have found you. I shall bring out your innermost fears and terrors. You shall pay for your betrayal to the Great Ruler… G."… What utter nonsense is this?" Isaac grumbled after reading the message.

"The Great Ruler… Betrayal… Could it be….?"

"What?" Isaac didn't seem to have made the connection.

"… This guy…! He has something to do with Maria! No one else could've written such a message…!"

"Lemme check if someone else got it. Maybe it's a wide-scale prank, after all." Isaac suggested.

"Ah… Check with the guys, yeah…"

"Or maybe it's an attempt by Twilight to intimidate you."

"Heck. He wants to shine again."

"That's what I think… I'll check with Sigma and Blood Shadow…"

17:44 PM (Japan Time)…

"… No. We didn't get any weird mails at all. Right, Sigma?"

"Yeah. We'd noticed them."

Isaac had gone to speak with Blood and Sigma about the email, only to find out they hadn't received it.

"… Ask Vadous to look up if he knows anyone named "G" who worked for Maria. I believe he's trying to turn Nelaus nervous by exerting pressure on him. Maybe the guy's in league with Twilight or that's Twilight in person to begin with." Isaac told them.

"I'll go tell Commander Omega." Blood Shadow announced.

"I'll keep watch. Keep yer eyes open, Isaac." Sigma warned.

"I will." Isaac nodded in agreement.

"But to shatter Ms. Tension…" Sigma got amused.

"Oh heck." Blood Shadow groaned.

"…bring in Ms. Non Tension…"

"And where do I find her?" Isaac skeptically questioned.

"…and invent the Tension Non Tension Duet."

"Sure, sure."

"That will win the Nobel Show Award…"

"There's no such award, never was and never will be!" Blood Shadow snapped at Sigma out of exasperation.

"Mwah, hah, hah… And be bought by Vincent to become the "Funny and Creepy 100% Mexican Show"… Ta-dan!" He finished.

"Don't mix crazy Vincent with this, man. I'm back to Nelaus' place."

"Beware of Ms. Straight Road battling Mr. Curving Road!"

"Sigma! This is not a moment to joke! Stay quiet for a while, will ya!"

17:49 PM (Japan Time)…

"… It'd seem that your suspicions were correct, Nelaus. Nobody else got this message."

"Damn!"

Nelaus was nervously pacing around the living room's table and biting his fingernails.

"This guy somehow found out about my true identity! I'm in deep shit now… Who knows what he can do with that…? I don't wanna be exposed as a "freak"! Damn you, Twilight! I suspect you to be involved! Maria's vengeance: this is what it is!" Nelaus nervously replied while biting his nails.

"Calm down. I told Sigma and Blood, and I'm sure Vadous will be able to smoke the guy out. They'll figure out if Twilight sent it or not." Isaac tried to relieve him.

"I hope so…" Nelaus nervously replied.

The Link PET suddenly rang.

"It's an unknown number… And it's calling from the Tokyo prefecture, also." Isaac announced.

"It's my doom!" Nelaus gasped.

"Be realistic. It could be a bureaucrat for all we know."

"Patch it through!"

"Okay…" Isaac sighed.

"Nelaus Rainon – dono, am I to assume?" A man's voice asked.

"Who are you? You don't sound like ex-_senpai_." Nelaus asked.

"I am your doom. And I'm not Twilight, yes."

"I-I knew it! You used to work for Maria, didn't you?"

"Bravo." Sarcastic clapping was heard over the line.

"W-whaddya want outta me?"

"I am here to remind you of the price betrayal brings with it, in case you had forgotten." The man gallantly replied.

"You bastard…! Are you blackmailing me?" Nelaus hissed with obvious rage on his voice.

"Oh. No. I have no need for such low methodologies, after all. The Great Ruler may have used them, but I have my own methodologies to handle things. And Mr. Twilight _was_ a _business partner_ but we've parted ways: it's time for me to shine."

"If you're a man then come out and face me!" Nelaus challenged.

"Regrettably… I have not finished my preparations for that as of yet. You shall have to bear with it for a while."

"I demand to know your name, lowlife!" Nelaus shouted at him.

"My name, you ask of me? Well then… I am _Gate_. You would do well to remember it…" The man introduced himself.

There was a noticeable chuckle at the other end of the line before the call finished.

"… Go tell the guys. We need to get a hold of the guy's location." Nelaus told Isaac.

"O. K.!"

"I won't let you lowlife ruin my life." He hissed under his breath.

Breathing deeply, he walked into the kitchen and served himself a glass of water at room temperature: he looked calmer after doing so.

"Doing my homework will help me cool off." He decided.

He climbed upstairs into his bedroom and took out his institute stuff from his school bag: he laid them out on the table and began working on it while still looking annoyed.

"Yeah… I'm sure this guy will come after me instead of Twilight… Fuck."

17:57 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Yeah. He had an air of being in control of everything."

"All of Maria's goons had it."

Isaac was speaking with Omega over the call they'd gotten.

They were standing inside of a system somewhere which had several firewalls and locked doors: both of them were standing near a revolving 3D image of the Earth.

"We've traced Gate's latest known employer… Schneider Inc.'s R&D Lab appointed him to be the head of it." Omega told Isaac.

"Hum. And he quit?" Isaac asked.

"His contract ended and he asked for no renewing, so he left. He had nothing else to do since the _Project: Walkürenritt_ work had been completed. He admitted being interested in Nelaus, but never specified why to his Boss. Guess Twilight incentivized him to become a headache for us before cutting with the guy.

"Hmmm… He sounded like he was going to show up soon enough."

"Sure. We're going to try to trace his call in the meanwhile."

"OK. Good luck."

"Thanks."

"…gates leading to the Netherworld and beyond and such…"

"Dragon. Again. Who the hell placed those mikes which seem to pick up his mutterings when he goes fetch ingredients? Sigma?" Isaac groaned.

"Yeah. I'm being fed up. I take them out the guy sets up another 12 next day he comes over… I'll go and use the Continuous Glare of Bad Mood to quell the guy: he won't be so trigger-happy when he sees my mood!"

"Yeah. And you could try to do it on Shadow Man too."

"Sure… Let's make sure they focus on the job…"

18:11 PM (Japan Time)…

"… What? The South Korea Internet City was ravaged by a dozen of those _Valkyries_?"

"Yeah. That's how it was."

Davis had told Lander some bad news he'd just received in one square of Internet City near the Coliseum.

"Great… Those Dark Land jerks took profit of the fact that there weren't many powerful Net Saviors there and made a powerful display after we've foiled them this morning." Lander grumbled.

"You could warn King Land and they'll relay the warning. They might head over there next." Davis pointed out.

"Okay. I'll tell 'em how to deal with those bandits as well. See ya later, Davis." Lander nodded with the head.

"Shah, shah, shah! Lucky Luke's gonna come arrest "Kid" Billy~!"

"Jeez. Be serious."

Needle Man suddenly walked into the square and pulled a joke which Yuriko didn't find funny.

"Well. At least it's not obscene." Dr. Wily told her in the background.

"Speaking of which… Where are Dr. Regal and Laser Man at?" Martin asked Charles in a hushed tone of voice.

"Guess they've been told to repair some damaged building or Cyber World damaged as a consequence of the Darkloids when incentivized by Nebula about 4 years ago…" Charles whispered back.

"Hum. Alright. Keep an eye on the bulky guy just in case…"

"Don't worry… The Net Police monitor the guy 24/7…"

"OK. Let's go Snatch one of those gals and try to see if we capture them."

"Oho. Good idea… The Cyber and Analog Snatchers are on the move~!"

08:33 AM (Iceland Time)…

"… Phew! I think that we should be able to counter those things with this strategy…"

Dr. Spimer exited from the laboratory and sat down on his office's armchair: he took out the reading glasses and cleansed them with the handkerchief inside of the case.

"Hum, hum… Hum…"

His cell phone began to ring, so he opened the lid and frowned upon reading the display.

"Unknown number… Maybe _Messier_ Vadous changed it for security reasons…"

He pressed the "REPLY" button and waited: the connection was rather bad, which surprised him.

"… I found you." A distorted voice announced.

"Do excuse me?" Dr. Spimer frowned.

"I have said it: you have nowhere else to hide." The voice replied.

"Who do you think you are?"

"I am the Tyrannical Being which seeks to rule over the world. I am the Demon King." The voice replied.

"If this is a prank call, I'm going to warn you that it's going to cost you a lot of money to ring up Iceland unless you're not on it."

"I don't care. And this isn't a prank." The voice replied.

"… Are you from Dark Land's Foreign Department, perhaps? So? What's your answer?" Dr. Spimer tried to guess.

"I'm a nomad." The voice replied.

"… Huff. Well. That was a good joke, _Messier _Vadous. Can we talk about what's going on?"

"Who is Vadous?"

"… I'll ask you something: who is Dr. Lartes?"

"… Isn't he the head of the Lyon Hospital?" The voice seemed to have its doubts.

"Wrong. You're not involved with the Sub Space, then. Whom do you work for?" Dr. Spimer questioned.

"I work for my own. I unravel conspiracies which jeopardize civilian population." The voice shot back.

"If you're from Dark Land, shouldn't you say conspiracies which jeopardize your dictatorship?" Dr. Spimer grumbled.

"… I have nothing to with politics whatsoever, mind you. I am alone and work alone." The voice bluntly replied.

"… Hum. If you're trying to prolong this call to find me, I must tell you it's on vain. My encryption protocols are unrivaled. Besides: I know a good hacker who could break through the cheap one you must be using."

"… Damn." The voice hissed.

"You must be an _amateur_ at this stuff, right? Do you even know who you're talking with?" Dr. Spimer smirked.

"Dr. Spimer: head of the Cypher syndicate." The voice replied.

"Call it whatever you want. But don't associate us to those terrorist mafias." Dr. Spimer warned.

"Hmpf. It depends on the amount of evidence I can uncover. That's all that there's to it. And that hacker of yours… Wouldn't it happen to be the sneaky and infamous "Octopus – han" which the Interpol has been unable to uncover or locate at all?" The voice assumed.

"Hmmm… Who knows?" Dr. Spimer teased.

"I know. Farewell."

"… Could it be…? Guess I'll need to ring up those gentlemen…"

18:49 PM (Japan Time)…

"… And that's what happened. May I count on your help?"

"You sure may, Dr. Spimer!"

"You can leave it up to us."

The twins were sitting in front of their computer and carrying out a videoconference with Dr. Spimer.

"Hum. Good. I only desire to know the owner of the SIM card and the location. There's no need to deepen more." Dr. Spimer told them.

"That's easy for us." Netto smiled.

"You'll have the results in less than an hour's time." Saito assured him.

"Do contact me once you find out the results."

Saito began to type into the computer while Netto connected his Link PET and engaged a set of programs.

"Ready?" Saito asked.

"Go!" Netto encouraged.

"Mwah, hah, hah… Some boilin' intrigue~!"

"Sigma. Stop meddling around with the mikes!" Omega growled as he came into the system.

"YIKES! C-Commander Omega, sir!"

"Oh. Omega. Dr. Spimer asked us to look up a little something…"

"Good. I'm just warning you: we found Twilight's house at last but the Mettools using stealth camouflage patrol all openings and all. The Cyber World's full of warp-holes and bottomless pits. We're going to sit and listen to what goes on there before we make a move."

"Good!" Saito grinned.

"I won't bother you further: I'm busy running an investigation… Later."

09:12 AM (Iceland Time)…

"… Dr. Spimer? We have the results."

"Do tell me."

Dr. Spimer was using his laptop computer to conduct a live video-conference with Netto and Saito.

"To begin with… The caller was using Skype from a laptop. This laptop is located in Narbonne and was using a public wireless network in the main train station." Saito reported.

"Narbonne…" Dr. Spimer brought a hand to his chin.

"We managed to find out the username of the Skype user: "Veritas". We later traced the user and found the registered email to be a Gmail accounted owned by someone nicknamed "V. D."..." Netto reported next with a smile.

"V. D… I thought as much. My hunch was correct."

"You know that person?" Saito inquired.

"I do. We used to be partners at Paris University almost a decade ago. I reencountered the person recently when I travelled to Paris for some businesses… It's a freelance journalist. It was asking too much stuff, so I tried to make it give up, but it'd seem it's become a rather stubborn person…" Dr. Spimer admitted with a sigh of defeat.

"More like a stalker, right?"

"Correct. If anyone were to ask just say that Cypher HQ is somewhere in Iceland. It'll work." Dr. Spimer requested.

"O. K.!" Both replied.

"Good-bye."

Dr. Spimer finished the video-conference and sighed.

"Veronica… You were always a stubborn girl and that hasn't faded even a decade later! I don't know what do with you: let's hope you give it up."

20:40 PM (Melbourne Time)…

"… Yeah. Stay away for a while… _Kyoudai_'s sniffed this place and I'll have to move the stuff around… I'll take care of cleansing all trails of your presence too… I'll contact you when I find a new meeting spot."

"Roger."

"Good, Talon. I might need your services soon enough."

"Understood, Dr. Yoru Yami."

"That's all. Be ready for a sortie."

"Yes, sir. As you desire."

Twilight was speaking with someone over the phone as he used a handkerchief to cleanse furniture and dragged along a vacuum cleaner too: he was also checking a PET's holographic display which showed 64 blue dots scattered around a 3D model of the house and some red dots some distance away which looked liked they'd converge from all directions at the same time.

"Good. Later."

"Later."

Twilight ended the phone call and began to tug off a bed's blankets to then use the vacuum cleaner and suck up any occasional hairs: he made a bundle with them and brought them down to the ground floor where he stuffed them into the washing machine.

"Luckily I know how to cleanse these: and _kyoudai_ will want to have a complete assessment of my surroundings before moving on. Heh. By the time they get in they'll only find Darth Krayt's minions waiting to cut them down… Heh, heh, heh. I'll simply move to another house with basement and I've warped all the dungeon stuff there using the "DCs" anyway… No problem over there."

He whistled a tune as he kept on checking the display.

_Dark Land's about to get serious too… Finally… The climax is close~!_


	11. Chapter 11: Dark Land Strikes Back

**Chapter 11: Dark Land Strikes Back**

09:50 AM (Japan Time), Saturday January the 31st…

"… It's a pity that Aura – chan wanted Nelaus to come do some shopping at Densan City… He could've come along."

"Maybe this way he wouldn't be worried about that guy named Gate. He needs something to shake off the stress."

Netto and Saito were sitting in the back seats of the usual black Honda FRV model: there was only one agent as the driver.

"Well. Yeah. Nelaus needs some calm atmosphere to concentrate, after all, so... Overstress won't do him good." Netto shrugged.

"I'm sure that we can ask Trill to tag along and have fun together."

"By the way! It looks like today is gonna be a rainy day… I'm now glad we brought over our umbrellas." Netto commented as he looked out through his window.

"By the way! Agent Puma… Denpa –san couldn't come today?"

"Regrettably… He had to attend an important meeting at HQ and Agent On Air has gotten a cold. So I was asked to drive you gentlemen to the rendezvous point." Agent Puma politely replied.

"People get colds during this time of the year…" Saito shrugged.

"Oh. We must stop to refill the gasoline tank. I hadn't realized it was this low…" Agent Puma announced.

"No problem."

The car entered a gasoline stand near a large avenue: another three cars were also filling up their deposits so the Honda stopped and Agent Puma stepped out: the twins also came out to stretch for a bit.

"Sigma and Blood went ahead of us, right?" Netto asked Saito.

"I'm sure they must be having a fierce competition by now." Saito smiled and sounded sure of it.

Agent Puma finished loading up the gasoline tank and returned the hose on its place.

"I'll go pay. We'll depart soon enough." Agent Puma announced.

He headed over to the store and picked a spot in the customers' queue to pay.

"Let the rules hit the window!" Netto joked to Saito.

"Jeez." Saito didn't find it funny.

Several buzz-like sounds began to sound from an alleyway close by all of sudden: various persons looked around, intrigued.

"Huh? What's that?"

"Oi! Look there!" One yelled.

Everyone looked at the alleyway were several pairs of red eyes had gathered.

"Rats?"

The figures suddenly jumped out of the alley and tackled several people to the ground in the blink of an eye.

"What in the…?" Netto uttered.

"I think I know what's going on…" Saito grimly muttered.

Something very quick tackled Saito into the ground and latched into him so Netto gasped: it was one of the four-legged _Nibelung_ robots.

"What the…?" He uttered.

Another of the robots tackled him to the ground and latched into him: Netto tried to shake it off: but it too heavy.

"Huff!"

It opened one small hatch where the mouth would normally be at and took out the stun-gun extension: it hit Netto's right side of the neck with it and he immediately felt how his consciousness faded into blackness…

09:25 AM (Mongolia Time)…

SPLASH!

Netto suddenly awakened upon feeling that his whole head and part of his torso were submerged in a mass of water.

_WTF?_

He felt some strong arms pushing him into the water so he tried to move, but he felt thick ropes around his shoulders, elbows and wrists: he tried to hold his breathing and couldn't see anything inside of the water.

_What the…! I'm gonna drown or what?_

He was suddenly pulled out of the water and forced to stand: he panted heavily and tried to regain his breath.

"Enough." A voice commanded.

He was pushed into a chair and he sat on it: he felt totally disoriented and dizzy as he tried to regain his breath.

"Hullo." The same voice greeted in an amused tone.

Netto tried to focus his sight. In the meanwhile he noticed that his shirt, vest and coat had been removed, leaving his chest and torso naked: he felt a shiver going down his spine from the cold feeling.

He still wore his jeans, boxers, socks and sneakers, however.

"Take a wild guess." A blurry face close by told him.

"Da… Dark Land…!" Netto realized.

"Bravo." The voice congratulated.

His sight by now was rather clear: he was facing General Meta, who looked in a very good mood.

_A Dark Land jerk!_

A large stone rectangle about a meter and fifty tall which was filled with water was located behind him.

The room he was sitting in was largely bare, its walls, ceiling and floor made of symmetric blocks of black stone.

A metallic door with a closed slit was placed behind him.

The light came from fluorescent tubes on the ceiling.

He could see two men in t-shirts and camouflage pants standing behind him.

Their faces were hidden by balaclavas and sunglasses.

"Y-you guys… Never tire… of making life… impossible…" Netto cursed.

"Oh. You must mean Satan Takaisho…" General Meta guessed.

"T-that's right…! He worked for you guys…!"

"I won't deny the fact. Although I will admit that his methods were rather too… Uncivilized. The guy was a rogue, anyway." General Meta made a dismissing gesture.

"W-where's Saito – niisan! What have you guys done to him…?"

"Oh. You needn't fret… My secretary is asking him some questions in the adjacent room…"

"Y-you're part of that Foreign Department who made t-those weapons!"

"That's true."

"H-how could you guys know what route we would take…? We use several for safety reasons…"

"We used a little psychological trick…"

"Ah…! Agent Puma… He's not… a "Committee" agent…! You somehow kept Denpa - san and Agent On Air busy so that he would pick us… in a copied car…!" Netto realized.

"That was an excellent deduction, Dr. Watson." General Meta grinned.

"Hmpf… Save your sarcasm… for your aunt's deafness… Shadow Man will come up with a pun too…" Netto cursed with some sarcasm as well.

"Do we apply a corrective, General?" One of the men asked.

"No, no. It is fine as it is. Remember: the Secret Service people are leeches waiting to suck our blood, so we better not go too far or they'll swarm us." General Meta warned them.

"… Call the medical team!" A man's voice shouted suddenly outside of the room.

"You had to go too far!" One man complained.

"The General is so gonna have your head in a silver platter, Vulture! You moron!" A second man added.

"I know! Just go fetch the medical team or a doctor! Move your butts: you morons!" Vulture commanded.

General Meta frowned and looked like he wasn't expecting this whole scandal.

"… I'll go check. You two: don't do anything." General Meta announced.

General Meta opened the door and stepped out into a stone corridor lit by fluorescent lights on the ceiling: Vulture was standing near an open door adjacent to the room Netto was at and looked very nervous.

"I demand to know what the cause of this scandal is, Vulture." General Meta demanded in a hushed tone.

"Ah… Meta – sama… I…" Vulture seemed to have been taken aback and was avoiding his gaze.

"I order you: answer me!" General Meta raised his voice's volume and sounded enraged.

"Roger, Meta – sama! Eh… I tried to… use an innovative method… but I went too far and… he's fainted… so I've called… for help… and a medical team…" Vulture slowly replied as if trying to find a way to make it sound like it was no big deal.

"… What method?" General Meta demanded with a hint of anger on his voice.

"…H-hot embers… I pressed them against his skin to force him to speak and then cooled them with cold water… But he fainted, so I think that… I should've… researched…"

Vulture's voice volume began to decrease as he spotted his superior building up obvious anger: he gulped and stood still, knowing that he was going to be punished.

"… Vanish immediately or I'm going to cause a ruckus here and now. Run: you imbecile." General Meta hissed in an icy tone of voice.

Vulture didn't need to be told twice: he ran off towards the south at top speed.

"Hruh…!"

General Meta breathed deeply and slowly expired: two soldiers and a medic ran past him and headed for the other room.

"By the Lord! What a thing…!" The medic uttered.

"What do we do?" One soldier asked.

"Untie him and take him to his room immediately. And if you meet either Viper or Bella tell them that they shall have to wait!" General Meta told them without bothering to enter into the room or move.

The two soldiers came out taking Saito with them: like Netto, he'd been stripped of all of his body's upper half clothing and had several ugly burn marks on several spots on his body and torso and his wrists had the mark of restrains on them: the medic followed them.

"… Hmmm… What to do… The younger one won't want to answer anything taking into account this state of affairs… And I don't want to push it or the Secret Service guys will have found two reasons to crackpot on us… Take him to the room as well." He commanded while grumbling.

The door opened and Netto was guided out by the two soldiers: they'd put a blindfold on him.

"And don't push it." General Meta added in an icy tone of voice.

09:38 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… Here's the place... You. Open up."

"Jeez. OK, OK."

Netto heard a door being opened and he was pushed into a room: his blindfold was removed and his ropes cut but, before he could react, the door was shut behind him.

"Huff. At last."

Netto looked around: the room was small and made of stone, like the one he'd been at before: there were only two beds.

Saito was lying in one of those, his torso filled with bandages, and he was still unconscious.

There was a small cubical room on the north-west corner of the room with a door which was the restroom.

Apart from the beds, there were no other pieces of furniture whatsoever.

"Damn it. These jerks… Twilight shouldn't have fueled them up!"

He sat on the adjacent bed and gazed upon his brother's immobile body: Netto sighed and lied face up on the adjacent bed.

"And if they got us here so quickly, they must've used "Dimensional Converters"… This is obviously underground. But I'm sure Vadous – san and the others will quickly put two and two together. The news of what happened at the gasoline stand will be headlines soon enough, so they'll know what happened." Netto muttered.

He glanced again at Saito's immobile body and sighed again as he stared at the stone ceiling.

"Bah… Yeah… Knowing Vadous – san… Before 2 hours have passed he'll have found a way out of here… Omega could easily beat all these guys along with Blood and Sigma… Nothing would be able to oppose them!"

_Fight your way inside and give these jerks a lesson!_

09:44 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… Viper. Listen to me. I'm not in the best of moods."

"I can see that, Meta."

"Forget about playing _dominatrix_ S&M with them: Vulture screwed it up and now the Secret Service is about to laugh at us. I don't want them to begin spreading rumors next to demoralize the troops."

"So… What I gotta do?"

"Nothing. Just do some bureaucratic stuff until the atmosphere cools down but do nothing apart from that. Don't answer the phone unless it's either me or Scorpion either."

General Meta was discussing with Viper on his office and she looked nervous at his extremely irritated mood: the phone rang and he brusquely picked it up.

"Hiya~…" A woman replied.

"Bella?"

"Nope. The biggest _bad girl_ ever…"

"Tell Bella to stop joking with me." He told Viper.

"But Bella would never joke with a superior officer."

"Tee, heh, heh. _See ya 'round, baby~_… _Crybaby boy~_…"

The phone call ended and General Meta violently slammed the receiver on its place while snarling: Viper gulped.

"SOMEONE BRING ME GREEN TEA~!"

"R-roger… I'll fetch Vulture and…"

"No! Have some moron bring it over! ON THE DOUBLE~!"

"R-roger, Meta!"

"DAMN THEM! VULTURE, YOU FUCKER! YOU SCREWED IT UP BIG! GRAH!"

10:02 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… Uh-huh… The pain… it's painful… it won't leave me…"

"Hang in there, Saito – niisan!"

Saito had begun to move and mutter things: he looked like he was starting to awaken and was in pain.

"Ne-Netto – kun…" He muttered.

"It's me! Calm down…" Netto told him.

Saito slowly opened his eyes and looked around: he immediately spotted Netto looking towards him as he leant on his bed's edge.

"W-where are we…? What happened to me…?" Saito seemed to be disconcerted.

"We're being held hostages in Dark Land. Someone named Vulture was interrogating you somehow and you fainted…"

"I remember… He… pressed hot embers against my skin… The heat… the burning… I'll never forget them… and he then soaked me with cold water. The sudden cooling inflicted pain on me as well… He did about five times since I kept on cursing him… I fainted afterwards…" Saito muttered while recalling.

"They only held me inside of a recipient of water to wake me up… I realized what trick they'd used but before the guy could start to question me, a scandal formed outside because you'd fainted… So he gave up on it and tossed me here with you…" Netto explained, sighing.

"I'm sure that… Vadous – san… will find us… soon enough…" Saito muttered as he tried to suppress his pain exhales.

"I dunno where they stacked our upper clothing, though… This is place is warm, but I'd feel better if I had something on…"

"I have the feeling they have… something worse… in store… for us… I feel like… another S&M sadist… roams close by… And it's not Twilight… I've got the hunch that it's… someone else… maybe a woman, even…"

"I hate being defeatist, but you're probably right. Damn. Why do they have to show up around us, anyway?" Netto sighed in defeat.

Saito tried to sit up on the bed slowly and managed to do so: he panted, since it was obvious that it had taken him a lot of effort.

"I feel weak… They must've given me something weird…" He grumbled and made a grimace.

"That's not possible. Your internal nanomachines would have broken down any foreign thing which wasn't acknowledged beforehand by you, see. And I'm sure they don't know about them. They couldn't do the same trick with me, either, 'cause I also have them." Netto reminded him.

THUD!

"Oof!"

Both tensed upon hearing some heavy hit the floor and someone letting out a muffle cry.

"It's us!" A familiar voice announced.

"Kuro Kaze – san?" Netto recognized it.

"Oi! Don't tell you guys forgot 'bout me as well." Another voice added with some amusement.

"Daratsu – san!" Saito exclaimed.

The door was unlocked and two men dressed in _ninja_ attire entered.

They were both around the same height: a meter and eighty tall.

Both had thermal goggles on.

The only difference between the two of them was the stamping of their black wool tunic.

One had a purple Alphabet "D" letter drawn on the chest.

The other, however, had the initials "K2" painted in a purple color.

They carried _katana_ sheaths and both of them twins' upper body clothes.

"Where did you find those?" Netto asked.

"They were in a locker close by." Daratsu replied.

"Hah! And they call this "security"… The guard was reading a gaming magazine. We simply snuck behind him and stunned him." Kuro Kaze chuckled and sounded like he found it laughable.

"How long have we been missing?" Saito asked.

"About two hours." Daratsu reported.

"The way out is secured. Good ol' Omega is waiting outside with a shuttle vehicle." Kuro Kaze told them.

"Put these on… By the way… Saito – kun: can you walk or do you need help?" Daratsu told them before asking Saito.

"I need some help… I feel too weak…" Saito admitted.

Netto helped Saito put his clothes on and then dressed up with his own clothes: Kuro Kaze helped Saito walk while Daratsu handed Netto a gun he took out from a pouch attached to his belt.

"It's a Beretta M92F modified to hold tranquilizer rounds. If we spot anyone, we put him to sleep. Okay?" He told Netto.

"Heh. Like Solid Snake…"

"Truly."

The group of four easily made it through the empty corridors and reached an opened door which led to some ascending stone stairs: they climbed them and exited into the surface near a large gray stone building.

"There! Omega."

"Phew. You're in one piece."

A small aerodynamic-looking white spacecraft was stationed there..

The shuttle looked aerodynamic and was colored silver: the shuttle had a front Plexiglas view window and two short wings and tail.

Nut it didn't seem to have any visible means of propulsion: entrance was gained through an open hatch on the left side of the body.

Omega was standing at the right of the opened side door.

"Let's hurry it up." He told them.

Everyone climbed onboard the craft and Omega sealed the lock door: he then seated on the pilot's seat.

"Fasten your seatbelts. We're going straight to Japan." Omega announced to the passengers.

Everyone did so (Netto helped Saito do so) and the craft began to lift off the ground.

"Good…"

Omega pressed some buttons and an active stealth field engaged: the craft headed for the skies without any apparent propulsion system.

"Phew. Operation: success."

To those inside, it looked like they weren't moving at all, but, nevertheless, the landscape changed: to those outside, it was moving at an incredibly high speed without any visible propulsion system.

"No one detected our coming and leaving. By the time the guys in the basement react, we'll be safe. This affair will leave those guys stained and there's gonna be a lot of internal conflict." Omega commented.

"We should go to a hospital… I'm worried about niisan's condition." Netto suggested.

"I agree. We're going to cover it saying they took you to an illegal base they had and that we rescued you. We brought you home and that's when your parents decided to bring you to the hospital. We don't want to make it look like we violated their borders." Omega told them.

"Yeah. But now they're done for." Saito muttered with a hint of anger.

"Sure… Nobody gets away with kidnapping "Net Saviors!"

10:55 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… Meta! We're in deep shit!"

"What's wrong, Scorpion?"

General Meta had been drinking a tea to calm his earlier outburst when Scorpion entered the office, visibly excited.

"The Net Saviors… They've escaped!" He let out the bad news.

"PUAH!"

General Meta coughed and spat the tea he had been drinking: he looked at Scorpion, baffled.

"Impossible! One of them was in no condition to walk unaided and the door can't be opened from the inside!" General Meta uttered.

"They had outside help! Two _ninja_ guys got in and knocked out the sentinel. They retrieved their belongings and locked the sentinel inside of the cell. I dunno how they got into the country so quickly, though... That's the enigma." Scorpion reported.

"… We've clearly underestimated the Subspace guys… To be able to come up with a rescue plan in so little time and carry out… I'm baffled…"

"But that's not everything… They left _this_ behind for cha to read, it'd seem." Scorpion announced.

He took out a sealed vulgar envelop with a wax seal which had the purple "V" engraved on it: the envelope was addressed to "General Meta: Head of the Foreign Department".

"Hand it over!"

General Meta snatched it and opened it: there was a computer-written letter in English.

"…"General Meta. You have toyed with powerful people beyond your comprehension. Now you have an example of what I am capable of. This time, I shall be a gentleman and do nothing."…"

"Yikes." Scorpion seemingly foresaw the next part.

"… "Next time, I shall use any necessary methods to bring down the whole system which shaped your own existence. Vadous."… My God!" General Meta read before gasping in horror.

"You know why he let us go, right? He wants the Secret Service to suck our blood outta us and then provoke their collapse… He wants us to destroy each other." Scorpion told him.

"… However…! I'd foreseen a similar situation… I have a backup plan ready to be executed."

"And what's it about?" Scorpion asked.

"Hah! It's simple: we're going to say "farewell" to Dark Land and become an independent nomad organization… This way… We will be able to operate anywhere, anytime without anyone setting up obstacles on our path. How's that like?" General Meta explained with a broad grin.

"I love how it sounds. How much time do you think we'd need to carry it out?"

"I've already secured a way out… I'm sure that the Big Boss is gonna send us to some frontier outpost as a punishment, so we can easily slip over the border and go to a spot I've prepared. Once in there we will use "Dimensional Converters" to go to the secret base I've arranged for. All is already in place."

"So… We act like we have been caught red-handed and everything will flow out from there?" Scorpion grasped.

"Yeah. Call over those two and Cobra. I'll call up Vulture and tell him the plan."

"Count on it."

Scorpion walked out rubbing his hands in excitement while General Meta chuckled under his breath.

"Hmpf… It won't be over just yet… A new chapter is about to begin…"

14:14 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Phew."

Netto was sitting in a chair next to Saito's bed in a hospital room.

_The medics have applied some lotions to regenerate his skin and given him a painkiller via an IV.._. _And since Saito – niisan acknowledged the use of it, his nanomachines didn't break it down into harmless substances_. _He's now deeply asleep._

"Everything is gonna be alright, niisan…" Netto muttered.

"… Netto? What happened?"

"Oh. Meiru – chan… Well… We got into a mess, as usual."

"Is Saito – kun grave?"

"No… He just needs some rest…"

"Phew."

Meiru walked in while wearing her usual vest but she's replaced the skirt for jeans and now wore white sneakers: she looked concerned and sat down to Netto's left.

"Saito – kun…" Roll muttered.

"He's going to be OK…" Netto calmed her down.

"Who did this?"

"Dark Land. But they're over by now. They're going to beat each other."

"Good… I can't stand them either! Remember what they did to Princess Pride with that Napalm Man ploy!"

"I remember that all too well, yeah."

"Be strong, Saito – kun…" Roll muttered.

"He'll make it through, Roll. You know him: he's strong. And _macho_."

"Meiru – chan… That last adjective was unnecessary…" Nettto sighed.

14:25 PM (Japan Time)…

DING DONG!

"Coming…"

Nelaus walked towards the entrance door and checked out through the peep hole: it was Aura, as usual.

"Hello. What's up, Aura – chan?" Nelaus greeted.

"Can we… talk…?" Aura slowly asked.

She looked like she found the air too cold.

"Sure. You're always welcome, Aura – chan." Nelaus smiled.

"Thanks…"

Aura stepped in and hung the coat in one of the lobby's perches before she stepped into the living room and sat on the sofa: she carried what looked like a photo album and Nelaus soon came in with the tea.

"It's rather cold today, isn't it?"

"Y-yeah… Guess that…"

"You look troubled, Felicia – chan." Isaac commented.

"It's… nothing." Felicia hesitantly replied.

Nelaus sat down on the opposite sofa and glanced at the photo album on her lap.

"Say… Are those pictures of your family?" Nelaus assumed.

"No. I received them via post mail today… And I don't understand it at all. I thought you'd have an idea of what these are about." Aura told him, looking worried.

Nelaus picked the album and inwardly gasped: it was full of photographs about the abandoned Gondwana facility where he had begun his own existence: there about two dozen photos, covering every detail of the facility so Nelaus quickly put two and two together.

_That Gate bastard lied. He's trying to split me from Aura – chan by scaring her… I need to come up with something to calm her down… And I'm sure Maria approve of this too… I dunno about Twilight but maybe he'd find it amusing to try to make me behave like Raiden… He began to wander the world and didn't want to know anything about Rose for years…_

"… There's no need to fret. This is the work of some jerk which picks on innocent girls… This looks like it was taken out of some movie or series… It must be a wicked prank." Nelaus put up a confident smile and looked up from the album.

"Ah. This relieves me… I thought I was in the midst of some mess for some reason or another…" Aura sighed in relief.

"I'll go toss this stupidity into the garbage bin… Enjoy the tea in the meanwhile, please."

"O. K.!"

Nelaus walked out of the living room and into the kitchen: he opened the garbage bin and tossed the album inside.

"Farewell… Gondwana." He muttered.

He quickly returned to the living room while looking like nothing had happened: he whistled a tune.

"I'm glad that you found such a nice scarf today's morning when we went shopping." Nelaus told Aura while trying to switch the topic of conversation around.

"Oh! Thank you!" Aura smiled.

"Hey. Listen, Felicia – chan… If you were to receive weird emails or calls, tell us. It's our job as Net Saviors to defend you from the bad guys who pick on you girls." Isaac told her.

"You sound like a knight, Isaac – kun !" Felicia giggled.

"Guess so… Maybe I should get a shield and a sword and look up to Link to begin with…" Isaac shrugged.

"Tee, heh, heh."

"Thanks for the tea, Nelaus – kun. I'll be going home." Aura announced, looking relieved.

"You're always welcome." Nelaus reminded her.

"I'll tell you if something weird happens, Isaac – kun. I know you'll take care of it." Felicia assured him.

"Sure. Take care!" Isaac smiled.

"_Bye-bye_!"

"_Ciao_!"

"See you around!"

Once Aura had left, Nelaus turned serious as he entered the living room and clenched a fist.

"Gate… You better be ready, because I am going to defeat you lowlife so as to break free of the chains of my past… I won't let you lowlife ruin the bonds which I have managed to build insofar…" He hissed with obvious anger on his voice.

"Together we'll take you down!" Isaac proclaimed.

"Yeah. That guy is no more than a leftover from a no-longer-existing crime empire. It's about time we made sure to completely get rid of any leftovers." Nelaus muttered.

"We will complete our redemptions. Countless suffered because of that woman. We will avenge them by wholly wiping out those leftovers."

"Yeah… Twilight goes next. The guy's cornered in Melbourne and will soon be confronted with Vadous' power… But maybe he'll pull a stunt and run away like last time, over half a year ago…"

"And once Twilight's been caught then the "Talon" will not be able to move around and be able to do anything… Hmpf… You deserve it, you freaks who tried to destroy Japan's future… Go to Hell! Hmpf!"

17:17 PM (Melbourne Time)…

"… There you are!"

"_Kyoudai_. I was waiting for ya."

"That's enough cat-and-mouse!"

"May I introduce you to a _business partner_?"

"Who?"

"Glory to the One Sith!"

"Fuck. Darth Krayt."

"Enjoy~…"

"Shit. I knew it was a trap but I wasn't expecting this guy…"

"Or us."

"Lovely. Darth Maladi, Darth Talon and Darth Nihl… And Darth Wyyrlok the 3rd…"

Vadous jumped inside of the living room by plunging through the windows and found Twilight calmly standing in front of the sofa and clasping his hands behind him: Vadous aimed both swords at him but then the dreaded Sith began to appear from behind the curtains.

"Enjoy this 5 VS 1 match. Maybe you'll teach Krayt why Darth Bane's Rule of Two is the most intelligent thing ever. _Ciao_."

Twilight laughed and de-materialized while the 5 enemies drew their light-sabers and began to attack Vadous: he began to try to fend them off but they were too many for him and they began to land blows on him which were repelled by the armor.

"You morons. It has an EM field which repels energy."

He began to fight them back and Omega broke through another window having drawn his weapon: he quickly plunged it from behind into Darth Nihl and he got deleted.

"One down. They're but cannon fodder."

"Krayt isn't but I'll find a way around: your Vaapad technique could help on that, Omega." Vadous replied.

"Roger."

Vadous and Omega quickly disposed of the rest of the enemies and Omega began to attack Krayt by using an imitation of the famed Vaapad technique in which he skillfully spun the blade and began to land blow after blow too fast for the eye to count: Darth Krayt had to yield terrain and suddenly used the "Force" (or some magnetic field) to levitate the table and shoot it at Omega who split into two.

"Lorentz force." He guessed aloud.

"No wonder." Vadous wasn't surprised.

"If first was the "van der Waals force"… Next had to be this... But this charade's over by now. Go nap."

Omega quickly cut through Krayt's armor and plunged his sword through him to defeat him.

"Glory to the One Sith!"

He got deleted and both quickly began to search the house: Vadous quickly turned on a pair of thermal goggles as if to find heat traces while Omega found the basement's hidden door in the corridor and kicked it open to rush there: it was totally empty and clean.

"Hmpf. He had plenty of time to move everything."

"They should call the guy Cat-N-Mouse Man." Vadous grumbled over the radio.

"He's like the Joker or Ra's al Ghul: they always come back somehow no matter what you do. Gotham's freaks end up showing up again more than once too." Omega fumed.

"Che. Then let's try to find Gate: he can't be that slippery… Twilight! I'll settle it with you later… Gate must be tackled first… Let's go!"


	12. Chapter 12: Shattering the past

**Chapter 12: Shattering the past**

08:28 AM (Japan Time), Sunday February the 1st…

"… Here's the place..."

Nelaus stepped down from a bus on the outskirts of a village: he walked towards the south down a large slope which headed towards a wide concave valley.

"Hmpf! How fitting."

The skies were gray and it threatened to rain at any moment.

"… Nelaus… Are you sure it was a good idea to come here without telling anyone?" Isaac asked him.

"… See. This is our battle, Isaac. And, besides, I'm sure the guy will deploy a "Dimensional Area". Mr. Vadous won't take long to catch up, anyway, so… He'll understand it." Nelaus calmly replied.

Nelaus continued walking down the dusty and sandy path: he passed through a gap in two hills and crossed through a stealth camouflage field which was deployed all around the area.

"So this is the spot, huh?"

A pit opened on the earth in front of him: its rim and walls were filled with large burn marks.

A silhouette was standing on the other side of the pit, which was about a kilometer wide and half a kilometer large.

"You came, Nelaus." The figure greeted.

"You must be… Gate." Nelaus assumed.

Gate stepped forward, smiling and looked very confident of his own self.

"Do you know what this place is?"

"… No." Nelaus admitted.

"Is this place that important?" Isaac shrugged.

"This is where the "Palace" was stationed at before it departed on its last journey. It's an appropriate place for our decisive battle."

"… Hmpf. If you try to scare me with the mere specter of the "Palace" it won't work." Nelaus scoffed.

"So be it…"

Gate snapped his right hand's fingers and the stealth field faded away: various "Dimensional Converters" emerged from the ground and ignited, thus forming a "Dimensional Area".

"Now… Behold my battle form!"

"I suspected as much: you're a Net Navi."

"The signature said it all."

Gate shone in a golden light and his whole body was encased in a golden-colored armor.

A white silk cape emerged from the back of his shoulders and reached all the way to the floor.

"Synchro Chip, Slot In! CROSS FUSION!"

Both Nelaus and Isaac performed "Cross Fusion" flawlessly and "CF" Nelaus drew a Mega Cannon Battle Chip.

"Eat this!"

He shot several shots, but they all bounced off Gate's golden armor: Gate smirked and waved his right hand: three green-colored energy spheres materialized and headed towards "CF" Nelaus.

"You can't escape!" Gate proclaimed.

"Hmpf."

"CF" Nelaus quickly dodged and rolled across the ground to dodge.

"Battle Chip, Boomerang!"

"And this ain't running either."

"CF" Nelaus drew the Boomerang and shot it at Gate: the boomerang hit the armor and was deflected: it didn't leave any noticeable dents or scratches.

"Damn! Something should damage him… Battle Chip, Super Vulcan!"

"CF" Nelaus drew the Super Vulcan and shot several quick rounds at Gate, who didn't even bother to dodge: he stood still and let the salvo hit him fully, covering him in smoke.

"Did that do it?" "CF" Nelaus wondered.

The answer to his question soon became apparent: Gate kept on being totally unscratched.

"Rift of Doom!"

A large purple ellipsoid formed in front of Gate: he jumped inside and it vanished.

"Where the hell did he go to?" "CF" Nelaus cursed.

"Welcome to Hell." Gate's voice rang out from behind him.

"CF" Nelaus tried to turn around, but he felt a kick on his back and he lost balance: he began to fall into the pit.

"Grah! Attacking from behind… That's low! Jet Vernier!"

"CF" Nelaus used his jets to stabilize himself and hover: the end of the pit was out of the reach of sunlight and he seemed to have fallen about ten meters.

"Program Advance!"

"Program Advance!"

"Hi – Cannon, Triple Slot In!"

"Giga Cannon!"

"CF" Nelaus quickly flew towards the sky and aimed his Giga Cannon at Gate, who didn't bother to move.

"EAT THIS!" Both shouted.

The Giga Cannon finished loading and the blast hit Gate's figure fully, causing an explosion: he was not in the same spot when the smoke cleared.

"As I said, you need to die." Gate's voice rang out from behind "CF" Nelaus again.

Gate took out a Long Sword the blade of which was colored silver and slashed "CF" Nelaus' back: there was a cloud of smoke and a _kawarimi_ doll appeared on his place, so Gate gasped.

"Battle Chip, Tank Cannon!"

"CF" Nelaus drew the heavy weapon and steadily aimed for Gate's back: he shot and let the recoil push him.

"Ughrk!"

The shot caught Gate off-guard and hit his back, propelling him towards the ground and crashing into the depression made by the Giga Cannon's attack but he got to his feet again, unscratched: his cape had a large hole to indicate where the attack had gone through.

"Why, you…!" Gate hissed.

"Hmpf. You're the lowlife. You're the one who should be gone from this world. Maria's goons have no place in this world." "CF" Nelaus replied.

"…"Goon"! I was and AM Her Grace's most trusted agent!" Gate roared.

"I think Twilight would rather object to that by now."

"DIE!"

Gate shot towards "CF" Nelaus, but "CF" Nelaus merely shut down his jets and fell some meters before he ignited them again: Gate gasped as he headed for a Giga Count Bomb Program Advance "CF" Nelaus had left inches in front of his face.

"Eat bomb."

There was a large explosion and a shockwave: "CF" Nelaus quickly landed on the ground and drew two Long Blade Battle Chips.

"Why, you…! Be gone…!" Gate roared close by.

"CF" Nelaus jumped out of the way as Gate shot a string of three purple-colored energy spheres at the spot "CF" Nelaus had been at before.

"Is that all?"

His face was largely burnt and blackened, but his armor was still wholly intact and the whole of his cape had been burnt out as well.

"… Nelaus. This isn't good. We're not managing to lay a single wound on him even while using Program Advances." Isaac told him.

"Don't worry. I have some Chips the guys gave me." "CF" Nelaus reassured him.

"Whatever you use, it's futile! I am invincible!" Gate proclaimed.

"Every _clichéd_ villain proclaims the same thing. Nobody is invincible, deluded fool. Not even Twilight." "CF" Nelaus scoffed.

"You're beginning to tire me. Is that all you have on you? You're a defective project. Her Grace didn't make sure to fully program her loyalty into you, so that's why you defected." Gate scoffed back.

"… I'm not a "project"! I'm a human! I'm alive, I'm breathing and I can think! Psychos like you, leftovers from a nonexistent crime empire, would be better off if they accepted the truth and stopped dreaming of fake glory." "CF" Nelaus shot back.

"You have angered me for the last time, Nelaus. Now you die for real."

Gate drew two Long Swords and ignited a jetpack on his back to accelerate towards "CF" Nelaus: he skidded across the ground and jumped into the pit.

"How's this for a strategy?"

"Damn it!"

Gate couldn't stop in time, so he met the ground head-first: "CF" Nelaus hit the wall of the pit and used his own jets to fly out on the opposite extreme.

"Take these!" Gate roared.

He shot red-colored energy spheres towards "CF" Nelaus and he cut them up before he swung his swords around to deflect them: one of them was deflected back at Gate, causing an electrical reaction and a dent on his armor.

"I get it! He's invulnerable to practically all kinds of attacks save for his own attacks!" Isaac realized.

"Heh. "One's greatest weakness is one's own self"… This Choina proverb sure applies to this situation." "CF" Nelaus smirked.

"Damn!" Gate cursed.

"See? You presume of being invincible: but your weakness is your denial to admit that everyone has their flaws." "CF" Nelaus accused him.

"Super Vulcan!"

Gate drew two Super Vulcan Battle Chips and began to shoot two salvoes towards "CF" Nelaus.

"Dream Aura!"

The Dream Aura shield surrounded "CF" Nelaus and deflected the whole of the shots.

"Grah! Eat these!"

Gate shot three blue-colored energy spheres at "CF" Nelaus, but he merely sliced them up and shot the remains towards Gate: given how they came at different speeds and angles, he couldn't dodge the whole of them, and two of them hit him, making further dents on his armor.

"Nelaus! If we provoke him, he forgets about this weakness. We must use this opportunity... Come up with something." Isaac told him in a hushed tone while sounding slightly amused.

"Roger."

"So be it, defective! This is your last stand, vermin!" Gate roared.

"Those titles would suit you better than me." "CF" Nelaus shot back.

"Grah! Eat these~!" Gate roared.

He summoned nine energy spheres and shot them one after the other towards "CF" Nelaus while moving around but he merely changed the angle of his body or the inclination of the swords to slice them up.

"Elemental Cyclone!"

"CF" Nelaus began to spin very quickly, becoming a green tornado made up of green leaves: the remaining portions of the energy spheres coiled around it as he advanced towards Gate and the powerful winds were dragging him towards the tornado despite his attempts to run away.

"Stay away! Stay away! STAY AWAY~!" Gate roared in panic.

It was in vain: he began to spiral around the tornado's outer body and all of his energy spheres hit him one after the other, adding further dents to his golden armor, which was beginning to fall off, revealing cyber flesh beneath it.

"Gruka~rgh!"

The tornado ceased and Gate fell into the floor: the shock from the landing broke off whatever was left of his upper body armor, leaving only some pieces on the arms, legs and back.

"My armor… This can't be happening! I am… a GOD!"

"You're a mere psycho who doesn't want to accept that all beings are mortal. And Twilight surely uses you as his proxy to battle me." "CF" Nelaus coolly told him.

"I shall destroy you…!" Gate roared as he stood up but his balance was far from decent.

"… Black End Galaxy!"

Black energy began to accumulate on "CF" Nelaus' hands and gained the shape of a spheroid.

"HUH?"

"CF" Nelaus tossed it behind Gate and it expanded into a large black vortex which began to suck in everything around it: "CF" Nelaus drew a Neo Variable Sword and placed his right foot forward.

"Farewell."

He dashed forward, slashed through Gate's body, and hit the vortex before stopping behind it, giving his back to Gate: the vortex collapsed in a brutal explosion which swept the whole of the ground.

"GROA~H!"

Nothing remained of Gate except for a few broken fragments of his golden armor which had been scattered around the area when the explosion cleared.

"Hmmm… I believe the shockwave pushed him into the pit before deleting him. He craved his own grave." "CF" Nelaus dully commented as he looked down on its depths.

"We killed this ghost of the past come to haunt us."

"Hmpf. From now on, I am who I am. I am Nelaus Rainon. And I do not know anyone named Anaya Maria. That name no longer has any meaning for me. And not even Twilight's name does." "CF" Nelaus declared.

"That's my motto too."

The "Dimensional Converters" powered down and retreated: the "Dimensional Area" faded and Nelaus cancelled his "Cross Fusion".

"It's time to go home."

"Roger!"

He picked his Link PET and placed it on the arm strap while smiling.

_Hmpf… I knew it: that guy wasn't worth it… The "Talon" has spoken!_

10:28 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Ah… Home…"

"Yeah. We're here."

Saito sat down on his usual chair, looking more energy-filled and relieved.

"The doctors gave me the go-ahead to leave the hospital… For the time being…. I shouldn't practice swimming and I shouldn't wash my chest with water…"

Netto was standing on the threshold and smiling as he spotted how Saito was back to his normal mood.

"Oi, Netto. You have a mail from Laika…" Sigma announced.

"Saito – kun. You also have one from Search Man." Blood Shadow announced.

Both of them read the emails and smiled: they had suspected what they were about.

"Good ol' Laika invites us to his apartment for a sleepover." Netto commented.

"They must want to talk 'bout somethin'…" Saito smiled.

"Mwah, hah, hah. About Dragon's newest banner…"

"Which is…?" Blood Shadow seemed to feat the worst.

"Ahem! "Of rivers and seas goes the tuna which plots a tragedy which shall befall those who foul their waters"…"

"How will a _TUNA_ plot a tragedy?" Netto groaned.

"Please…" Saito slapped his forehead.

"Ya never know: it might be a Lord's container even!"

"You got that from Shadow Man and his "arcane" manias."

"Mwah, hah, hah… Dragon's banners are… Hum… UNBEATABLE~!"

10:44 AM (Japan Time)…

"… No one's at home? Where could he have gone to?"

"Dunno."

Aura had come to visit Nelaus only to find out that he wasn't home. She frowned.

"Hmmm… Maybe he had some Net Savior stuff to take care of?" Felicia suggested.

"Could be…"

"Do you want to try to reach him?"

"It's worth a shot."

Felicia rang up Isaac and he immediately replied.

"Hullo, Felicia – chan. What's up?" Isaac asked.

"Where are you? You're not at home, right?" Felicia asked.

"Oh. We had some business off-town, and we're now in the way back with the bus… We should be there in twenty minutes." Isaac replied.

"We'll be waiting." Felicia smiled.

"See you."

"Let's go wait on that café over there. I want to have a _cappuccino_. And maybe I'll get a "certain" magazine…"

"What… It wouldn't happen to be an S&M magazine, right?"

"Of course not… It's a magazine about nothing at all."

"What the heck? Where'd you get that lame joke attempt from?"

"More like where I dug it from: the answer is… Arushi – kun!"

"Arushi – kun from B Class made that lame joke? I feel skeptical."

"Kidding! Ayanokouji – san came up with it. Gotcha! Tee, heh, heh!"

09:58 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… Good news. We're being transferred to the border outpost, as I expected. The backup plan can begin."

General Meta had entered the meeting room looking in a good mood: he relayed the news to his comrades.

"By the way, Meta… We've lost Dr. Gate's signal. He told us he was going to finish off that Ameroupe Net Savior, Nelaus Rainon, for unspecified reasons. Something tells me he was bested." Viper reported.

"Hum. That's odd. I didn't see anything weird on the data he sent us, mind you..." General Meta frowned.

"Maybe he knew something important he didn't disclose." Scorpion suggested.

"I'm sad, though! Because Vulture screwed it up I didn't get my chance to shine." Bella commented in a dull tone.

Vulture was apparently busy looking at the ceiling.

"Jeez… Who told him to use such barbarian tactics, anyway?" Cobra grumbled.

"God knows." Viper giggled.

"Ahem, ahem! Remember: we must keep the act up. Soon we will be able to become a powerful independent organization…" General Meta reminded them.

"Someone called Suicide Squad?" Twilight's voice boomed out of nowhere.

"What in the… Twilight! You weasel!"

"My. Some manners for a General… I guess you're more of a Non General than a General in the end but I'd rather be the Grand Moff Twilight." He laughed.

"Please…" Scorpion didn't think it was funny.

"Beware of Court of Owls or they'll send the "Talon" for you bucks! Hah!"

15:25 PM (Japan Time)…

"… So… What happened inside of that "Dimensional Area" was Nelaus fighting against that Gate guy?"

"That's how it was."

Vadous was listening to the news Omega had brought over.

"At least we got rid of one of Maria's goons… What's picking my nose currently is the fact that those _Valkyries_ Navis haven't shown up again ever since they did so in South Korea. They must be saying them for another occasion or improving them…" Vadous brought a hand to his chin and seemed to be thinking about it.

"I'm pretty sure they're having their internal quarrels as well, so they must be busy trying to get outta those before they suck the blood outta 'em."

"Oh. That's right. They'll end up destroying themselves with their own foul weapons."

"By the way: there was nothing useful in the house in the end?"

"No. He even switched the dust bag of the vacuum cleaner for new ones and disposed of the others. That methodical and almost obsession – level cleansing… Someone else was living in that house from time to time but I found nothing save for a receipt of two weeks ago… Twilight had purposely cut off all references to the store but he left the products and their prices… And it was all groceries enough to feed one person… But Twilight's a Net Navi so he doesn't need to eat. He's teasing us: maybe the "Talon" wasn't so "lunatic" as we thought and actually lived there ready to go out into sorties…" Vadous detailed.

"It could be that they _pretended_ to be a sect-like or cult-like bloke and it was misinformation." Omega suggested.

"Maybe they even lived amongst normal people and all and they were just playing the role Twilight wanted them to play… That reminds me! He wrote something in Cyrillic on the back of the receipt… Check it out later."

"Alright. But maybe it's a blind alley to begin with…"

19:11 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Huh? That bag… Aha-hah. Enzan _does_ share ideas with Laika. No wonder…"

Netto entered Laika's bedroom: it contained a single bed, a small side desk and a lamp.

There also had a wooden table and two chairs next to it.

There also was a mirror set on the to the table's right.

A sports bag was placed near the bed and Netto eyed it suspiciously.

"Sorry for the delay… I was finishing mopping the kitchen. I'm a maniac of cleansing." Laika announced as he ran in while closing the door behind him.

"Laika… Enzan passed onto you his S&M gear stuff, didn't he?" Netto questioned him.

"Eh… Hum…" Laika seemed to be at a loss for words.

"You could've told me beforehand. I don't like sudden surprises when it comes to this stuff." Netto reprimanded him.

"Sorry…" Laika hung his head down.

"Okay, I see that you've become a nicer guy over the years, so I'll let it slip…" Netto shrugged.

"You really will?" Laika looked surprised.

"I've been wishing for some "spicing up" as of late… I accept it 'cause I know you'll feel unsatisfied if not. Try not to be too rough, either. Those are my terms. Do you agree with them?" Netto told Laika.

"Okay. I accept them." Laika smiled.

"Good. Let's get started." Netto replied.

He quickly began to undress while Laika opened the sports bag zip.

"Can you stand in front of the mirror, please?" Laika requested.

Netto did so and Laika walked towards him and geared him on the same gear he'd had on the other day when he'd been in the "dungeon" but he obviously didn't realize that.

"Heh. It makes me look horny… Let's get down to business."

"Roger."

Netto climbed into the bed and Laika took out a pair of handcuffs which he closed on Netto's wrists as he placed his arms parallel behind him: he then connected a large rope to the back of the collar and linked it with a leg of the bed.

"Wait for me."

"Heh. Sure, big boy."

Laika got undressed and climbed in: Netto spread his legs and simply hummed a tune as Laika picked them up.

"Ready?"

"Shoot the first round, I shoot the second." He made up a motto.

"You could patent it, you know." Laika seemed to like it.

"Heh."

Laika began to massage Netto's nipples, drawing some low-toned moans from him: he soon began to lick around them and leave a trail as he moved downwards: Laika had already spotted how Netto's cock had become aroused.

"You get aroused easily, don't you?" Laika told him.

"Y-yeah… Guess so…" Netto let out a small chuckle.

"Can I go ahead?" Laika asked.

"Go ahead."

Laika grabbed Netto's cock and smelled it from a close distance: he began to softly move his fingers around his sack to tease him.

"Yeah… Like this…"

He soon wrapped them around Netto's cock and lowered the foreskin.

"Get ready." Laika warned.

Netto quickly nodded and, immediately enough, Laika began to suck his cock slowly and carefully: Netto's moans became more intense and Laika kept on sucking it.

"La-Laika…" He uttered.

Laika began to take it further in, and he almost could touch the bottom of the shaft, which had become fully rigid by now.

"I c-can't hold on… much longer… gonna… come to…!" Netto warned between moans.

Indeed, since immediately enough, Netto came to, filling Laika's mouth with his thick substance: he let out one or two extra spurts before he relaxed.

"Wow… I sure let out a lot…" Netto let out a small chuckle.

"Let's share it, then." Laika announced.

He pressed his lips against the brunette's, and they connected: they began to share the unique flavor by mixing their tongues before they broke apart, gasping for air.

"I wanna have a taste of you…" Netto told him.

"Okay. Here you have."

Laika placed his cocky inside of Netto's mouth: Netto closed his eyes and began to explore it with his tongue, softly caressing around it, especially around the head of it: Laika began to moan and closed his eyes.

"I'm… releasing!" He warned.

Several spurts of cum came out of his cock and filled Netto's mouth. Laika took it out and eyed Netto's filled mouth: he immediately connected his lips with Netto's again and they shared the flavor.

"OK. Go for the real stuff."

"You want it so badly…"

Laika spread Netto's legs and used one finger to massage around the outer area of his entrance: Netto began to relax and open up, so Laika put one finger inside of him and massaged the insides.

"Uh… Don't tease for too long… I can't stand it…"

"Heh. I'll try to."

Laika soon put another two fingers inside and kept widening the diameter of the entrance: Netto was moaning and keeping his eyes closed so Laika smiled and removed his fingers from the inside: he prepared his cock and placed the head of his cock against the widened entrance.

"I'm going in." Laika announced.

He placed his hands at both sides of his upper body to have a better grip while he began to thrust inside of Netto: it slid in rather easily.

"It's all the way in… How does it feel like, Netto?"

"Great… Comfortable…"

"I'm glad to hear it. I'm going to start moving, cutie."

"Don't use nicknames on me…" Netto grumbled.

Laika began to move his member in and out, almost slamming in sometimes at an increasing rhythmic: Netto couldn't stop moaning over how good it felt and Laika was being thrilled by it as well.

"Netto…! I'm going to release…!" Laika announced.

"Do it…!" Netto begged.

Laika pushed all the way in one last time and released, filling the brunette boy's insides with his cum: stuff began to come out from the overfilling and slide down his cock: Laika panted and leant his head on Netto's chest.

"It felt… great… Laika… you're a nice guy… after all…"

"Heh… You're also a nice guy, too…" Laika chuckled.

"Can you… ride on my thing…?" Netto requested.

"Yeah… I like the idea…"

Laika licked Netto's cock to get it hard again: he used his own fingers to expand his entrance's width before sitting down so that Netto's cock would slide inside of him.

"O~h! It feels… incredible…!" Netto gasped and let out a large moan.

"It feels good over here, too…" Laika admitted.

Laika began to move using his hands to lean on Netto's spread legs and his hips to move up and down: Netto let out moan after moan while Laika began to rub his own cock as well.

"Laika…!" Netto moaned.

"Yeah, I know…" Laika replied.

Laika came to first and several spurts of his cock stained Netto's upper torso and face with his cum: some fell inside of his open mouth as well while Laika's inner muscles constricted and gripped around Netto's cock.

"I'm going off!" Netto moaned.

He immediately filled Laika's inside with his own cum: some of it began to come out and slide down his cock: Laika detached himself and lied on top of Netto.

"Let's finish it, Netto." Laika told him.

"Let's finish it…"

They both began a passionate kiss while they rubbed their cock against each other: they attained released and stained each other's upper torso and face: they broke apart with a string of saliva linking them.

"That was great!"

"Heh. I'm glad you liked it."

19:49 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Ah! Search Man…!"

"… Saito…!"

Search Man and Saito were making out inside of Search Man's Link PET where a digital bed had been created.

Saito was sitting on Search Man's lap and moaning while Search Man moved his body up and down while Search Man's cock was inside of Saito's insides.

Saito was tightly hugging Search Man. Search Man had obviously removed his right arm's gun and all of his armor, and so had Saito.

"It feels splendid…!" Saito moaned.

"I'm going off…!" Search Man warned.

Search Man let out several spurts of cum which overfilled Saito's insides and slid down his own cock: Search Man let out a sigh of relief while Saito looked like he was in ecstasy.

"You're a good friend, Search Man… I know I can rely on you when I need to…" Saito told him.

"Thanks for the trust, Saito…" Search Man smiled.

"Let's share…" Saito suggested.

Both of them connected their lips and shared a passionate kiss while Saito toyed with his own cock: it soon became rigid and he let out some spurts which stained Search Man's upper torso.

"Ah… Good…!"

His inner muscles constricted and gripped Search Man's cock, which let out two or three spurts of cum before stiffening.

"A~h… It felt splendid…!" Saito gasped upon breaking out of the kiss.

"You really don't mind switching between me and Blues?"

"Both of you are good friends, so… I like you both, but please don't quarrel amongst you two because of that… You two make a good tag team…"

"Of course we don't intend to quarrel…" Search Man reassured Saito as he softly massaged his back.

"We should go sleep, don't you think so…?" Saito suggested as he let out a rather large yawn.

"I agree…" Search Man smiled.

"By the way, Search Man… Did you try scanning that house?"

"I did: but apart from that receipt Mr. Vadous showed us which had the word "teaser" written on Cyrillic its reverse there was nothing else: guess the guy could get down the point of keeping all clean when he needed the place to be clean… Unlike Laika – sama…"

"But we didn't see much dust in the apartment, mind you."

"No. But you haven't seen the closet. He stores a punch-bag with "The Penguin" face on it." Search Man rolled his eyes.

"Laika's fond of boxing? I always thought fencing was his forte."

"True. But it's rather _amateur_: he does that from time to time."

"Heh, heh, heh… Laika's got some secrets to him!"

"Sure… By the way: I saw another of those "Past Visions" and that Xon' Edos guy studying it from a safety range… It displayed Shade Man facing Blues and a blurry Navi in a Cyber World somewhere which had the Science Labs banner… Some purple-colored simplistic Navis accompanied them along with some Viruses… But! Shade Man simply left them to face the grunts. And then fled… Not so typical of "our" Shade Man, right?"

"Really… Guess that one was simpler-minded that the "local" one… But I don't mind it… Let's go sleep and cheer up."

"Heh. That's the Saito I know… Good night."

"Good night."

21:31 PM (Melbourne Time)…

"… I know… This house looks a lot like the previous one but that's because constructors thought they'd sell well…"

"I don't mind, Master."

"Heh. I left them a teaser but they'll surely think you were but a fellow I employ from time to time and whose skills are good…"

"What happened with Dark Land?"

"Heh! Those 6 got a scolding from Big Boss wannabe and they're going to be degraded to be sent to run a border outpost…"

"How the mighty have fallen, huh? What about that Gate bloke?"

"Hah. Gone. Nelaus proved his worth and coolly beat them… Given how they were a Net Navi IQ – sama designed then… But she was more interested in us hence why she hadn't bothered to approach or contact him in years…"

Philip was talking with Twilight on a new living room which had a very similar design to the one they'd been using but this one had a central fireplace the previous one didn't have.

"What was Miss IQ's goal in building them?"

"Hah. They were the architect who built the "Palace" by taking care of the whole planning and construction down to the last screw and lock… The Lab onboard was engineered by him and he was present in all of our "upgrades"… Their weapon design was good and they served their role by reminding Nelaus that he can't lie to himself forever… The _geas_ inside of his genetic code will stir up from time to time… Heh."

"But, really… He went there without a battle plan, got cocky and got beaten? Talk about a rushed guy."

"Truly, Darth Bapgei. Even his armor had flaws to it purposely set there by IQ – sama just in case he got cocky… Hmpf… Heh, heh, heh."

"Hmpf. The interlopers are gone and we'll soon shine… We "Sith" will…!"


	13. Chapter 13: The Call of God

**Chapter 13: "The call of God"**

11:06 AM (Japan Time). Thursday February the 5th…

"Hmmm…"

"What's wrong, Aura – chan?"

Aura was sitting inside of the classroom and behind her desk, leaning her elbows on the desk and holding her head with her hands: she turned to her left to see Nelaus standing there, looking slightly concerned.

"Ah… Hum… Say… You know those photos I got the other day in an anonymous way? I can't get them off my head for some reason or another… They were so… weird…" Aura slowly replied.

"Well. But it was a prank by some jerk or another. Of course they'd be weird. The jerk wanted to scare you." Nelaus calmly told her.

"Huh… But… I wonder…"

"What?"

"… Hmm… I don't understand that weird cylinder, the stuff that was inside and that hospital-like graphic… Was someone supposed to be inside of it? It looked like one of those "hibernation" devices in the sci-fi movies…"

"I told you: the jerk used frames from a film to fool you into believing they were real. It must be someone who picks on girls." Nelaus smiled and tried to shift the conversation elsewhere.

"… Yeah. Huff. You're right. Why should I bother to care about what does a jerk do? They're bad people, after all." Aura grumbled.

"That's my point."

"I get it, Nelaus – ku~n!" Aura smiled.

"Please… Could you prolonging that last syllable? It sounds weird…"

"Tee, heh, heh! I like teasing you." Aura giggled.

"You're smart, then." Nelaus smirked.

"Of course I'm smart! You know that I get good marks on my exams, Nelaus - kun!" Aura replied with obvious pride.

"Grr…" Dekao grumbled while sitting behind his desk.

"Yo, Ooyama! What's up?" Nelaus asked.

"Mrkrpxzkrmtfrzl!" Dekao growled.

"Man! What's that idiom? Are you talking an alien idiom?" Nelaus asked with obvious amusement.

"Grrr! Huff! Don't mess around! I hate exams! They're so hard…!"

"Sorry! But did you expect middle school to be a walk into the park? I'm surprised you've reached this far… You must've needed help: I am right?"

"Hmpf!" Dekao played the offended.

"Okay, I can see you're not in the mood for talking things today… See ya around. And tell Guts Man that Aki – chan is going to hold a concert next week…" Nelaus smiled as he walked back towards Aura's desk.

"O~H! DE GUTS! AKI – CHA~N! GUTS! I MUST GO THERE~!" Guts Man jumped around of the classroom's Cyber World in excitement.

"Jeez…" Dekao rolled his eyes again.

"Ooyama will always be Ooyama. He's the slow guy of the class."

"And Guts Man is Donkey Kong's Bahamas cousin." Isaac joked.

"My." Felicia giggled.

"No wonder." Roll wasn't surprised.

"Desu! It's no wonder."

"But as long as he behaves…" Glyde shrugged.

"Mwah, hah, hah… Oi! Guts Man! Beat Guts Man!"

"Not again…"

"GATTSU~! Guts Punch! Guts Hammer! Uo~h! Guts Man fainted… Guts…"

10:18 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… The scheme is a total success. By the time they realize we're gone they won't be able to react in time."

"That's perfect, Meta – sama."

General Meta and Vulture were talking with their companions about their "desertion" from Dark Land.

"By the way! I'm no longer technically a "General"… But I know you guys don't care for it, anyway." Meta announced.

"Of course not, Meta…" Viper smiled.

"Heh. It looks like things will get interesting. Maybe I'll be able to accomplish what Viper – sama's second disciple couldn't accomplish in the end." Bella smirked.

"Oi. Don't get funny ideas." Cobra grumbled.

"Meta. You should keep an eye on Vulture. We don't want him going off the hook again." Scorpion added.

"But of course." Meta replied as he directed a suspicious glare at his subordinate: he gulped.

"Say! What's the name of our new group?" Viper asked.

"Will you tell us already, Boss?" Scorpion asked next.

"We are… _The Desert Wraiths_." Meta announced with obvious pride and triumph.

"Desert Wraiths… It sounds cool." Cobra smiled.

"Doesn't it?" Bella giggled.

"And since we have the whole arsenal of weapons at our disposal… We will able to operate anywhere and vanish in an instant."

"This will be our M. O., then." Scorpion guessed.

"Glory to the Desert Wraiths! Let a new campaign begin! Hah, hah, hah!"

11:31 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Boss? I've got some news…"

"… Let me guess: bad news."

Omega had come to tell Vadous some news, but he had already suspected they wouldn't be nice.

"The Foreign Department has been dismantled, but their members have deserted Dark Land."

"Lovely."

"We don't know their current whereabouts: they took all the information regarding the weapons with them." Omega reported next while looking slightly nervous.

"More headaches…" Vadous grumbled next.

"And Schneider admitted to _Kount_ Serbauf that Gate seemed to have been working on some Net Navi, but he has no more info about it. He never said a word to either him or the Dark Land guys, it'd seem. I believe he took the secret with him to his grave. He was being very cautious."

"If it was just a project and he never got to work on it then that's no problem…"

"By the way! We searched the house again but there was nothing and we can't know if Twilight switched city, county or nation altogether."

"The guy's resorting to an annoying cat-n-mouse game: he gotta think he's the Joker, vanishing and reappearing when he feels like it."

"Obviously… I got told by Shadow Man that the "Talon" appeared near Yuriko and just threw her a bat-boomerang which had the word "TRAITOR" written there: she was unimpressed because it was Twilight's intention to let go of her."

"Maybe it was a reference to "Alternate" Yuriko given the memories of "Alternate" Rock Man provided by Kuroshiro and Kanou Shade over a year and half ago…" Vadous suggested.

"Ah. That's what it could mean, yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if "Alternate" Yuriko tried to refuse to continue working for the guy when she got back her memories somehow."

"…memories of lust, greed, ambition and gambling which…"

"Dragon!"

Hurried footsteps could be heard followed by a pair of mechanical hums: Vadous fumed while Omega rolled his eyes.

"The guy just won't learn."

"Guess that."

"Code I. Code I. Zoan Gate Man detected outside Firewall 3."

"The outer layer firewall…? Omega! Go give him a lesson on what happens when you provoke me in purpose." Vadous fumed.

"Roger."

Omega ran off while Vadous inputted some commands and spotted that Zoan Gate Man was shooting with the Gate Cannon at the firewall while his 64 Mettools tried to attack it from different spots in the perimeter: Vadous smirked and inputted some commands.

"Sigma's little idea will do fine."

Zoan Gate Man was focused on what he did and didn't see a creepy grayish fin cutting through the "ground" and silently heading for him: he suddenly gasped as his feet began to sink as if he'd stepped into quicksand followed by a CRUNCH sound.

"OUWA~H! MY RIGHT FOOT! THE PAIN!" He gasped.

"Hmpf. You made me sweat the other day in Melbourne: I'm going to pay you back with the same currency, Twilight…"

"GRUAH! DAMN IT! WHAT THE… IS THAT…! A DAMNED CYBER SHARK…? TACTICAL… OUWA~H! W-WITH… HUA~H! DRAWAL! MY RIGHT FOOT!"

"Hah. Earn the lesson, vermin, and don't come back twice."

00:47 AM (Iceland Time)…

"… I've found you."

"No more games."

Dr. Spimer had receiver another anonymous and distorted phone call, but, this time around, he knew who it was.

"What do you mean by "no more games"?" The voice asked.

"That voice distorter hardly hides your accent. And I know who you really are." Dr. Spimer calmly told the person.

"You're bluffing."

"Veronica! For God's sake! Stop your insistence. Everyone has a right to some privacy." Dr. Spimer grumbled.

"… How did you know who I was?" Veronica asked after having discarded the distorter.

"I asked "Octopus – han" for a favor."

"So! You _do_ know who he is." Veronica guessed.

"Wrong. I know how to contact him, but we've only spoken via emails. All I know is that he's Japanese. If he's from Kansai or not, I care not."

"That's weird… I'm in Sweden! But this connection keeps on being horrible. Are you really in Sweden? The rumors insisted on that…"

"This region is often hit by severe blizzards and snowstorms during this time of the year: it's no surprise."

_We use Iceland Time but we're really in an ice shelf about an hour's flight from Iceland and NNW…_

"Let's be serious. What are you up to?"

"… I've simply founded my own _haven_."

"Don't you mean "Heaven" instead or I'm hearing it bad?" Veronica didn't seem to know the word.

"No. I said "haven" as in "ship havens". It's a refuge where people who have not been able to achieve their goals because society impeded them can do so."

"Doesn't that sound like…?" Veronica began before being cut off.

"For God's sake, no! We don't have any political ideology! We're just like people on a ship. We live and work on the same ship so we all get along perfectly." Dr. Spimer grumbled.

"Okay! If you insist so… I'm satisfied: I won't bother you anymore… Wait. Then, the "Council of Armies" stuff…" Veronica began saying before recalling.

"I am the founder of it and the President of it, but I always get along perfectly with the other council members. And like I told you, we only try to force the enemy to retreat and don't like direct confrontation." Dr. Spimer replied while trying to close the affair once and for all.

"You win. Farewell, Pierre."

"Farewell, Veronica."

Dr. Spimer sighed in relief as pocketed the cell phone.

_At least she now understands that sometimes, some facts are better off not being known…_

"… Heh, heh, heh… I am Fortencho, Lord of Admirals! Come! We must stand united and fight to the end in Charum Hakkor!" A voice chuckled through the interphone.

"_Merde alons. _Twilight. You _forban_!" Dr. Spimer cursed.

"… My _business partner_, the Didact, says he'll bring you a nightmare!"

"How original."

"Mwah, hah, hah! Play around while you can, Dr. Frankenstein!"

"WHAT? DAMN YOU!"

"Hah, hah, hah! Nyah, hah, hah! Mwah, hah, hah! Hyah, hah, hah!"

13:13 PM (Mongolia Time)…

"… Meta! We've got trouble!"

"Already?"

Scorpion ran into Meta's new office, looking anxious: Meta was obviously taken aback.

"Huff, huff… Several of our _Valkyries_ have vanished without any apparent reason! They left no traces at all!" Scorpion reported.

"That's weird! They don't have a will of their own! They're pre-programmed!" Meta frowned.

"I knew that! The ones who vanished are the four with the most experience on the field… And I don't believe it to be a coincidence."

"But they didn't have any override codes, did they?" Meta brought a hand to his chin.

"Wrong. They had. Cobra and I had a look at their programming and found it hidden behind the "loyalty" program. But I'm sure _Herr Präsident_ didn't do that." Scorpion explained.

"… Dr. Gate did, then?" Meta guessed.

"It's the only possible choice. I do believe he was loyal to no - one and that he had his own interests." Scorpion replied.

"But… If he was deleted the other day, then who could've triggered the code, Twilight…? Unless… Did you have a look at it to see if it was set to be triggered in case he was deleted?" Meta asked.

"Cobra and I did. The code will only be engaged under a specific clause: "the call of God"..." Scorpion announced.

"Huh… Sorry. What did you say?" Meta didn't seem to have understood him.

"I said: "the call of God"..." Scorpion replied.

"And what the heck does that mean?" Meta asked.

"Dunno. There's nothing more written in the code itself. Maybe it's hidden elsewhere. Cobra is still working on deciphering the hidden programming." Scorpion replied.

"Keep at it and try to erase it while you're at it. Having our most experience _Valkyries_ vanish will do us no good… I know that we still have the _Nibelungs _and _Bifrosts_, but the _Valkyries_ are the cavalry to finish the job." Meta instructed.

"Okay, Meta. I'll report to you later." Scorpion acknowledged.

Meta scratched the back of his head.

"…"The call of God"… What the devil does that mean?" He muttered.

"Maybe it means the Master Builder for all we know."

"Where'd you get that idea from, Vulture? And didn't I tell you not to creep into me from behind?"

"Heh, heh, heh."

"What! Twilight! You fucker!"

Meta turned around to see Twilight lazily leaning his back against the wall and stuffing both hands on his pockets.

"Heh, heh, heh. Behold! The Captive will come visit you!"

"What "Captive"? Don't bring up rubbish nonsensical stuff, you lowlife!"

"Heh, heh, heh. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself. Send my greetings to Ms. Viper and Ms. Bella: I'm their _fan_."

He dematerialized, chuckling, and left behind a picture of a gigantic ring construct speeding towards a planetoid in space: Meta grumbled and tossed that into a garbage bin.

"Rubbish! Mere rubbish!"

He sat down on his desk and began to work with the computer.

"Hmpf! Nothing will impede the rise of the Desert Wraiths!"

15:05 PM (Japan Time)…

"… So… Things won't just stay quiet, huh?"

"It'd seem that they won't."

Dr. Wily had heard some of the news and was muttering aloud while enjoying a Maha Special at Maha Ichiban's: Maha had happened to overhear him, so he made a comment.

"You're right on that, Maha Jarama… It'd seem that some of those guys look up to the mistakes of the past without realizing what they truly are: mistakes." Dr. Wily commented.

"That's so true, Dr. Wily – sama." Maha Jarama nodded in agreement as he served him some cold water.

"By the way… Have those two been behaving or did they try to get each other's neck again?"

"They've been behaving but Hinoken gets those moods in which he claims he'll go down to Hell to search Freeze Man."

"Huff. It's my fault, I know it."

"… So?"

"Shah, shah, shah! I spotted a weird guy…"

Yuriko was checking with Needle Man in the meanwhile as Wily chatted with Maha.

"Hmmm… Did he have any Cyrillic sign on him?"

"Yeah! The character for the "C" letter… I believe it was the jerk named Cobra. That jerk seemed to be lookin' for somethin', but didn't find it and fled! Shah, shah, shah!" Needle Man explained.

"Hmmm… I wonder what he was looking for… Guess we'll find out sooner or later." Yuriko muttered.

"Shah, shah, shah! I'm gonna go and slice up some Viruses! I need some action to stay in form! Heh, heh, heh! Later, Yuriko!"

16:49 PM (Japan Time)…

"… _A ver! Confiesen! Dónde se esconde El Dorado?__"_

"There goes Vincent again…"

"He never gives up…"

Netto and Saito had just gotten home when Saito's PET rang and they groaned when they found out the ID of the caller.

"… "Let's see! Confess! Where is _El Dorado_ hidden at?"…" Blood Shadow translated.

"…"El Dorado"? Isn't that a myth?" Netto frowned.

"Last time I checked it was."

"Huff. Leave 'im to me... _Oiga! Para llegar al Dorado… Interrogue al Presidente! Él lo sabe!_" Sigma told Vincent.

"… Heh… _Pues voy a convertirme en - El AMO DEL MUNDO! __BWAH, HAH, HAH!"_ Vincent exploded into laughter before finishing the call.

"What did you tell him about some President?" Netto asked Sigma.

"I told 'im: _"Hey! To reach El Dorado you must interrogate Mr. President!"…"_ Sigma laughed.

"And he replied: _"Well, then, I'll become - THE WORLD'S RULER!" _… And he exploded into laughter."

"That's it: he's nuts." Saito grumbled.

"Wasn't it obvious by now?"

"Mwah, hah, hah… Dragon's newest banner! "Oh, Lord of Sailors! Thou voyage is blessed and cursed by Goddess Hylia and the Tyrannical Being, source of all Demons! Proceed with care!"…"

"Hylia? That's gotta be something which will be used in the next _Zelda_ game: Twilight's spoiling it for us already. _Triforce of the Gods_ used the term "Hylia people" to define the Hyrlue inhabitants." Netto groaned.

"Maybe we'll have forgotten by the time that happens."

"Good point, Saito – niisan."

"Mwah, hah, hah… Commander Omega told me Boss used the "virtual" Michelangelo to bite Zoan Gate Man's right foot and have him learn what happens when they try to piss him off in purpose!"

"No wonder." Both merely muttered.

"Huh? Call from Higure – san: the location ID and the phone ID matches."

"Let's check… Higure – san! You're the best at bowling!"

"A~h! De masu! Don't bring up bowling again, de masu… Number Man! It was your fault!"

"Yamitarou. You moron. I learnt the lesson. Have you?"

"Hmmm… Ms. Glassy likes _The Beatles_!"

Higure showed up on screen and Netto pulled a joke on purpose so he gasped in fear before he began discussing with Number Man: Blood Shadow suddenly came up with something.

"What? _Be-_what? De masu?"

"_Beatles_, Yamitarou! The always-popular King Land music band…!"

"Gotta get their latest disc…!"

"You moron. They disbanded on the 70s."

CRASH!

"Masu~…"

"Oh. Higure – san fell from atop the counter." Shuuko muttered.

"Pyrururu."

"Sorry for the bother: Yamitarou wanted to ask if Davis' Operator hadn't changed his mind and he was going to sell him his Chips."

"Jeez. They're but little edits! Anyone could do them for free, anyway."

"That's what I told Yamitarou but you know the moron."

"Ms. Glassy~…"

"He Who Fell From A Glare Coming From A Seer." Shadow Man's voice rang out in the store.

"Shadow Man. Stop labeling scenes as if they were canvases." Number Man grumbled in annoyance.

"Mwah, hah, hah… How clever!"

"How stupid." Blood Shadow shot back.

"Time to crave and grave~…"

"… Sigma. Shut up." Saito coolly snapped.

"Yikes."

"You had to pick a taboo word!" Blood Shadow scolded in a hushed tone to Sigma.

"W-what?"

"Don't "w-what"… Remember what happened last year's winter!"

"… Yikes. I'd forgotten… I mean… I didn't associate the word… Guess my tag search system needs an update…"

"Time to rhyme and giggle~…" Netto tried to improve the mood.

"Heh. I can do better! Time to smile and pace…"

"Heh, heh, heh. Guess Saito – niisan beats me to rhymes."

"Today I was inspired by some reason or another."

"The Inspired Seer Of Inspiration." Shadow Man chuckled.

"Shoo, shoo." Number Man shooed him away.

"Mwah, hah, hah… Let's have some fun with Mario and Luigi~…"

"You want a rematch, huh? Next time around, I guess."

18:07 PM (Melbourne Time)…

"… _Desert Wraiths_? They must think they're ugly."

"Hah, hah, hah! Good one, my apprentice…"

"I was making sarcasm, Master."

"It doesn't matter… Those guys can do as they want: they'll be useful to draw _kyoudai_'s attention at them. The guy surely thinks I've gone out of Australia by now…"

"And they can't image we just moved 2.7 km NNW."

"Heh, heh, heh. Expect the unexpected."

"OH YEAH! LET ZA FOOLS HIT ZA VAN!"

"Cloud Man!"

"Yikes!"

Philip and Twilight were chatting inside of the living room when Cloud Man interrupted them with another parody.

"Go sing that on some Internet City: NOW!"

"R-roger!"

"Phew." Freeze Man sighed in relief.

"How's Zoan Gate Man's right foot like?" Yamato Man asked.

"We sterilized it: but he'd already shaken off the 5 tracers on its body in some router near Taiwan…" He replied.

"5 tracers! Guess he was desperate." Cosmo Man looked amused.

"Heh, heh, heh. College of Charleston is my prey!" Swallow Man chuckled.

"I won't deny you that, Swallow Man." Twilight told him.

"Thank you very much!" He saluted.

"College of Martinston is for me to try out." Zoan Gate Man came in.

"How's the foot?" Twilight asked.

"Already healed. I apologize for my failure."

"Bah. Even I would've fallen for that: I didn't predict he'd use a random idea from Sigma just to show how annoyed he was."

"Roger."

"By the way: look at this." Freeze Man grinned.

He opened a screen and showed "CF" Charles and "CF" Martin facing two "Valkyries" somewhere inside of a "Dimensional Area".

"… Hyper Ball! GO!"

"OK! Speed Ball! Go!"

The devices mounted on either of their right shoulders hummed as they formed a "Hyper Ball" and a "Speed Ball" on them and they got energized: both arched their arms backwards before flinging them forward and throwing the "Balls" at the "Valkyries" which didn't bother to dodge: purplish energy in the form of a claw closing formed for a second and both "Valkyries" vanished before the "Balls" hit the floor, bounced once or twice and they began to tilt either left or right.

"Come on…!"

"Another little bit…!"

Both "Balls" stopped moving and a victory fanfare rang out.

"Heh! Valkyrie: _get_!" Both clasped their hands.

But the insides of the "Balls" glowed and they suddenly detonated: both gasped and then groaned in disappointment.

"Commendable yet futile." Twilight sneered.

"Isn't it?" Freeze Man amusedly asked back.

"Heh. Struggle and sweat for a while, you guys…" Philip smirked.

"Heh, heh, heh…! You're destined to struggle in vain, you guys!"


	14. Chapter 14: Finale

**Chapter 14: Finale**

11:47 AM (Japan Time), Saturday February the 7th…

"… UWA~H! _IT'S A MONSTER! GOD! HELP ME~!_"

Count Elec ran into the storage room inside of Maha Ichiban's after spotting a gigantic black-colored skull with blue eyes on the threshold of the restaurant.

"Heh, heh, heh."

Both Charles and Martin stepped in, laughing: the "skull" had obviously been their doing.

"Don't blame us! Dr. Wily told us you were in low spirits: so that's why we sought to snap you out of them!" Charles told Count Elec as he stood next to the door.

"So! If you want to blame someone you can blame him."

"It's the "Cheer Count Elec Scheme"!" Davis announced.

"We're cunning: in case you didn't know it!" Lander added.

"_Goddamn it! _Dr. Wily – sama, _you_ _are a_ _jerk_!" Count Elec cursed.

"Oi, Elec! Don't go over the thin red line! You don't want to earn Dr. Wily – sama's anger!" Hinonen reprimanded him.

"I care not! _Damn_!" Count Elec kept on cursing.

"Those two…" Madoi rolled her eyes and looked unimpressed.

"They are like matter and antimatter." Maha commented with a smile.

"They destroy each other." Magic Man added.

"I don't see the point of it." Fire Man protested.

"Count Elec has too much of a temper." Elec Man shrugged.

"Heh, heh, heh!" Colored Man chuckled.

"Ho, ho, ho…" Wily, sitting on his usual spot, chuckled as well.

11:56 AM (Japan Time)…

"… De masu! Heh, heh, heh! All's going perfectly! De masu! I'll get my hands on those Golden Chips and sell them as "Premium Edition"! De masu!"

"That's what you think."

Higure was boasting again and Number Man was trying to keep him in check.

"Heh, heh, heh! Ms. Glassy says my future is filled with light! De masu!"

"It's on the contrary: it's filled with _obscurity_." Number Man sarcastically replied.

"Ms. Glassy! You are my idol! De masu! I must remember to bring her some chocolates… Next Saturday is THE day! Masu!"

"… Next week is February the 14th… St. Valentine's, huh? So that's what you were up to."

"I'm going to put on some colony before going to see her! Heh, heh, heh!"

"And bring her a chocolate for White Day too, Yamitarou!"

"Oh! De masu! A white chocolate for White Day… De masu!"

"Pyrururu? What's this about, pyu?" Aqua Man wondered.

"Nothing. Go play with Ice Man."

"Yay!"

"I've got a bad feeling…" Shuuko timidly muttered.

"No wonder, Shuuko – chan."

"Ms. Glassy! Provide light and glow to my future! Masu!"

"Provide some rational thinking." Number Man grumbled.

"I'm the luckiest shining man ever! DE MASU~!"

"You aren't."

12:04 PM (Japan Time)…

DING DONG!

"Coming…"

Nelaus opened his door's house after checking through the peep hole that Aura was the visitor.

"Hullo. What's up?"

"Can I come in?" She asked with a smile.

"Huh… Sure."

They stepped inside and sat down on the living room's sofas: Aura looked very animated.

"Next Saturday I gotta bring a surprise for you, Nelaus – kun!" Aura told him with a smile.

"Next Saturday…? But my birthday ain't due 'till June the 27th…"

"Yeah. Why does it have to be next Saturday?" Isaac frowned.

"You really don't know what happens next Saturday?" Felicia teased.

"No." Both replied.

"St. Valentine's!" Both announced.

"St. Valentine's?" Both asked.

"Yeah! I'm baffled that you don't know what's about! Every boy waits for this day with eagerness!" Aura giggled.

"Is that so? Huh… Sorry… While I was on Chicago I never was told about any festivities or anything…" Nelaus scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah. This is why we didn't know about it." Isaac admitted.

"Heh, heh, heh! Now you know! I'll be a splendid day!" Aura giggled.

"Did you ask Miyuki – san to tell you your fortune, then?" Nelaus tried to guess without being too surprised.

"I tried! But she told me that I was "trekking down a path of false guidance"… I got pissed off, so I ditched her and started reading the horoscopes…" Aura smiled as she told him this.

"That Miyuki – san… Whenever she wants to, she can give out useful info…" Nelaus rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Her Navi was also creepy! He had that weird-tuned voice and sounded like an old man…" Felicia complained.

"I won't deny the fact."

"So? Nelaus – kun? Do we keep on being a couple?" Aura asked him as she grabbed his right arm.

"Huh… Eh… Sure… No… problem…" Nelaus slowly replied while blushing.

"Te – heh – heh! This has a good look to it, Isaac – kun!" Felicia giggled.

"Ta, ta, ta. It's all over." Isaac replied.

"At least you don't speak Martian like Ooyama…" Nelaus chuckled.

"Really… He couldn't just say: "I'm bad at this stuff" instead of that undecipherable growl?" Aura rolled her eyes.

"Ooyama's got those weird moods from time to time." He shrugged.

"YEOUWAH!" Someone yelped from the Cyber World.

"What was that?" Aura gasped.

"… Ah. The trap-bear… Guess it worked. A rip for a rip: I took them out of _Biohazard 4_." Nelaus grinned and looked amused.

"It was a stalker Navi stalking us two who fell for a trap." Isaac shrugged.

"Hah! They deserve it: they'll regret stalking my Net Savior _boyfriend_."

"Huh… Guess you're my _girlfriend_ then?" Nelaus timidly asked her.

"Of course, _dear_." She replied while blinking him an eye to tease him.

"Please…" He didn't think the attempt was funny to begin with.

12:29 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Huh? What's this book about? "Adventures of Bugs Bunny"… Man! I've always wanted to read this!"

A guard had been patrolling a corridor when he spotted the book.

"Let's see… Uwah!"

When he tried to open it, however, the covered opened and a toy wrestling glove attached to a spring came out, knocking the guard cold.

"Heh, heh, heh! Trill's "literature" strategy is a success!" Trill giggled.

"Sure is!" Omega smirked as he looked at the knocked out guard.

"Hey, Uncle Omega! Let's trick another one!"

"Sure. Leave it up to me: I know some strategies of my own too, Trill."

They both climbed up one floor via the stairs and exited into a corridor guarded by six elites at the end of it who were chatting amongst them.

"There's a general round of free beer at the cantina, fellows!"

"What?" One gasped.

"Seriously?" Another wondered.

"I want some beer! There I go~!" A third proclaimed.

"Last one is left out! Hurry it up, you turtles!" A fourth joked.

"Oi! Not fair! Wait for us! You'll regret this yet!" A fifth complained.

"You jerk! I'll have you swallow water instead!" A sixth cursed.

The six elites ran off and didn't spot how they passed close to Omega and Trill, who had hidden in an empty room: they dashed down the stairs.

"Yay! Uncle Omega's "bait" strategy is a success, too!"

"I told ya it'd be. It's all about knowing their elemental weaknesses!"

"Yay!"

Both of them ran into the now unprotected room and found the "GOAL" flag.

MISSION COMPLETE!

Both of them departed the VR System's Cyber World and returned to the real world.

VR SIMULATOR

MODE: INFILTRATION

LEVEL: NORMAL

TIME: 05: 35

RANK: A

USERS: OMEGA & TRILL

HAVE A NICE DAY!

Once the holographic screen disengaged, Omega crouched to be at around Trill's height: they both clasped open palms.

"Yay! We did it, Uncle Omega!" Trill exclaimed.

"Sure thing! You had some good ideas as well, Trill!" Omega congratulated.

"I'm glad to see you're having fun with everyone, Trill." Iris commented as she stepped in while looking in a good mood.

"Yay! Trill likes tricking guards! Oneechan!" Trill grinned.

"Thank you for playing with him, Omega – san." Iris told Omega.

"There was no need for it, Iris. I felt like it."

"Come, Trill. Let's go have a walk." Iris told him.

"Yay! 'Bye, Uncle Omega!"

"See you later."

_Heh. Guess Zoan Gate Man will soon be limping of the right foot… Gotcha._

11:42 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… Meta… We haven't been able to find the girls who vanished."

"Bah. It matters not."

Scorpion had come to report to Meta inside of his office over the failure to locate the missing _Valkyries_.

"Cobra and I did manage to eliminate the override code from the remaining units, though. Nobody but us will be able to control them."

"That's good. I'm sure that we'll soon be able to make the first move as the Desert Wraiths." Meta smiled.

Vulture was revising figures on a holographic map in the meanwhile.

"The chances of this operation working smoothly clock at an approximate 76%, Meta – sama." Vulture reported.

"Hmmm… We'll try to increase it a bit." Meta replied.

"Roger, Meta – sama."

Scorpion headed down a corridor and got into another room where Cobra was sitting behind a desk and working with a laptop: he stood up and saluted so Scorpion returned the salute.

"… What did Meta – dono say, Scorpion – sama?" Cobra asked.

"He doesn't care about it. He'll be in a good mood as long as we can produce something satisfactory."

"We should continue working on strengthening our firewalls and encryption protocols, then."

"That's correct. Let's get to work, man."

"Roger, Scorpion – sama."

Scorpion sat down behind his desk and began working on drawing some figure with a holographic projector and revising documents while chuckling under his breath…

11:49 AM (Mongolia Time)…

"… Don't you think Meta – dono will be unpleased at what we have done, Viper – sama?"

"He won't, Bella."

Bella and Viper were walking down a corridor and talking about something: both of them carried blue backpacks which seemed to contain several items.

"If you say so, Viper – sama… I won't deny that it was worth it: but we could've jeopardized our preparations…" Bella seemed to have her doubts about something.

"We just need to think it more carefully next time." Viper assured her.

"Roger, Viper – sama." Bella saluted.

"Tee, heh, heh. That guy, Twilight… He sent us an email with info on some clubs where I had fun with some little girls… It's more fitting to punish little boys but slipping the Devil inside of little girls is fun too…"

"You mean making it in a way that they will crave for more as time passes and maybe they will become Mistresses to rule over others and have the cycle begin anew?"

"Bravo." She clapped.

"Thank you very much."

"Tee, heh, heh. And I'm starting to get a lil idea… But I want to do some research firstly… A lil something between you and me without the need to involve those _bad boys_…"

"It sounds intriguing, ma'am."

"Oh my. Doesn't it, my dear disciple? Tee, heh, heh."

"Hmpf. The _Desert Wraiths_ will haunt their dreams."

"Of course, my cute lil girl… And their dreams will morph into nightmares from which they won't be able to escape… ever! Tee, heh, heh!"

12:58 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hmmm… Zzzzz…"

"… Boss."

"… zzzzz …"

"… _Boss_."

"… hmmm… zzzz…"

"BOSS!"

"YIKES!"

Vadous suddenly awoke when he heard someone yell at him: he looked around, apparently disoriented.

"Wha…?"

He was sitting on his command armchair in front of the control consoles: he looked at his right and spotted Omega: he didn't look in a good mood.

"W-what happened? Those dudes…? Twilight…? Vadous asked.

"That's not it, Boss. Falling asleep on the armchair is not good for your health."

"Huh… Sorry… I stayed up until late last night trying to narrow down where those guys could be at… Twilight included…"

"Next time make sure to go to your own room to rest. If you fall asleep like this then it won't be a good thing."

"Uh-huh… You're right… We're going have another long calm before the storm… We need to be on our toes…" Vadous replied barely repressing a yawn.

"That's better. I'll go to my room. And please try not to fall asleep in the chair. Kir Osh could come to take care of the supervising. And we don't want to make Lartes get angry, either."

"Uh… Sure."

"By the way… Do we have any news regarding Regal and Laser Man?"

"The Net Police have decided to extend the current _status quo_ until May, more or less… Dr. Regal hasn't complained because he knows he lacks a lot of credibility but at least they've removed the mikes on the house and they monitor his PC and PET instead to allow him some privacy."

"Hum. Alright. Say… If we encountered that biker… We let them go without asking questions?"

"Yeah. If the police feel like they should ID the guy it's their decision: as long as they're not as violent as Red Hood…"

"Huff. Let's hope Twilight doesn't try to imitate the guy either."

"He's busy enough spoiling us, anyway. Let that "Talon" come out anytime: I don't give a cent for it."

"OK, Boss…"

"…owls and talons and bats and robins shall struggle and wriggle alongside a blood-stained "Dark Sea" and…" Dragon Hell's voice echoed.

"Michelangelo got loose!" Vadous yelled.

"UWA~H!"

"Yay! Dragon – san runs like an athlete!" Trill giggled close by.

"Trill! I told you that this area IS off-limits!"

"Jeez. The "mad ship" curse began again. Shadow Man!" Omega fumed.

"Calling On He Who Brings Conflict Along With A Bang And A Kiss."

"Sigma told you my "Codec" frequency, didn't the moron?"

"Heh, heh, heh…"

"Shadow Man! Enough fooling around: there's job to be done!"

"Sure, _daishogun _Miyabi. My proud step brother."

"THERKZBHAT!" Dark Miyabi growled something undecipherable.

13:23 PM (Japan Time)…

"… What? So Dark Land was behind this?"

"Yes, Priest – sama. And the main responsible guys, the former Foreign Department Executives, have deserted and gone into hiding."

"Mwro~h… I sneaked around but found nothing close to the borders of Dark Land… They could've gone to Burma or Taiwan even."

"Hmpf… A string of headaches, huh?"

"Past" was reporting to "Priest" from a wide plaza which served as motorbike parking: he was sitting in the ground left of the bike and speaking through the PET without having bothered to take out the helmet or turn on the PET's holographic screen.

"That's how it seems to be, Priest – sama."

"Fua~h…"

"Priest – sama, sir?"

"My bad… I kept on pushing myself but at least this thing walks until the square…"

"A robot…?"

"I was being sarcastic… I mean… It works decently but not at full capacity: I need some more tuning… And I'm busy updating my LAN each week too to make sure nothing comes in and nothing is leaked. My project could have important far-reaching consequences and the world isn't ready to know about it yet. Besides: it's MY pet project. I won't hand it over to anyone else: NO MATTER WHAT!"

"W-whoa! R-roger, sir."

"Sorry if I scared you, Past… But I had to say it aloud. I feel better."

"That's good to know, sir."

"By the way… What happened in that Utah crater thing in the end? Do you have any info on that? It's all very hush-hush out there."

"From the looks of it… There's a facility named "Time-Space Tower" which studies a phenomenon named "Past Tunnel"… But that's all I got: NASA is being surprisingly quiet. It must be a new phenomenon which requires new theories and hypotheses to understand it and they mustn't want rush it up and then get shot down by private or _amateur_ researchers."

"Not unlike me! If the world isn't ready to know yet then so be it: forget about them and focus on those ex-Dark Land guys and their weapons: Raith Siennar's descendant must be the one making them for the Legacy Era Empire..." "Priest" added with some sarcasm.

"No wonder, sir."

"Muwro~h… AM – dono… Is there no way to try to get Priest – sama to properly rest? Past's worried about his health."

"And I am too but I have no means to materialize and when Priest – sama gets a fit of bad mood he shuts off my speakers too."

"Lovely." "Unit B" sighed.

"I know. You haven't been at his side 24/7."

"OUCH! That wrench had to fall from the table and hit my foot! It's possessed by Jinx Man!"

"Jinx Man…? Priest – sama, sir…!" "AM" sighed out of exasperation.

"Huff! If only I cared to place things on the tool-box… I'm getting lazy and that's no good. I need to be sharper! Anyway… Past! Keep avoiding the cops but bust those guys whenever you see a chance. And remember to work on the cover too."

"Roger, sir. Don't push yourself, sir."

"Good-bye, AM – dono! Muwro~h!"

"Huff. See you around."

"Well, well, well… Let's go back to the turf and I'll work on the stuff."

"Mugro~h! I'll train by busting some Viruses out there… Wroh, hoh, hoh!"

14:34 PM (Melbourne Time)…

"… OH YEAH! LET ZA JEDI HIT ZA TEMPLE!"

"That's lame, Cloud Man."

"Did ya mention the great me, Swallow Man?"

"Huff. Behave."

"Yamato Man! They need you to guide them with the Battle Meditation!"

"This fool!"

"I know that Fool's Killer is obsessed over me, Cosmo Man."

"Cloud Man!"

"Yikes! Commander Freeze Man!"

"Stay quiet! I'm trying to recover there!"

Cloud Man kept on with his countless parodies: Swallow Man glanced at him with an annoyed look: Yamato Man, who'd been sitting cross-legged in a corner and seemingly meditating, grumbled: Cosmo Man was fed up and Freeze Man called out while Zoan Gate Man (out of sight) called out to complain.

"Twilight – sama told you: go sing those in front of Thunder Man!"

"Oho. And then I'll prove to Raoul The Thunderbird he's outdated!"

"Whatever! Just get out of here! On the triple! NOW!"

Cloud Man's 3D image vanished as his consciousness program travelled across the printed circuitry tracks out of the Cyber World: the others sighed in relief and Zoan Gate Man groaned.

"Metto~…"

"Yeah! Put some more bandages and finish that hover-pack! First a shark and then a bear-trap! What's with those guys?" He groaned next.

"Huff. Zoan Gate Man ran into some trouble, huh?"

"I know, Bapgei. The Subspace has gotten serious at last."

"You did well on telling Cloud Man to go off… Master went out to take care of some stuff and we don't want him to get annoyed…"

Philip began to chat with Freeze Man but he didn't seem to be too surprised at Cloud Man's behavior.

"The Court of Thunders sentences you to… CRUMBLE!"

"_OH MY THUNDER!_"

"Raoul! You moron! That's Cloud Man!"

"The fool now patched us live to Thunder Man's PET, huh?"

"Say, Freeze Man… If you guys can travel across the circuitry… Then why couldn't you get inside of the Subspace HQ and listen in?"

"No good. Vadous already designed sensors to catch up abnormal power spikes and re-shape all pathways to force us into a U-turn and out of the systems. Swallow Man tried it." Freeze Man replied.

"Cypher installed that system and the other guys must've done the same by now, anyway." Swallow Man sighed.

"Ah. Of course: they suspected you'd do that ever since the summer, half a year ago…" Philip calmly realized.

"Hum! But there will be a way: one must meditate!" Yamato Man muttered.

"If we give it some time and try some different tactics…" Cosmo Man suggested.

"I'll remember this!" Zoan Gate Man cursed.

"You stay quiet and heal." Freeze Man called out to him with a sigh.

"Lovely. Guess we'll need a new strategy drawn from scratch."

"Twilight – sama will come up with something, as usual… Heh, heh, heh."

"You're right. If it's Master then… This isn't over. Not yet. Heh, heh, heh."

22:22 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Alright, Sigma… I do the first round and you stay here…"

"Mwah, hah, hah… Roger, Regor."

"Jeez."

"Hmmm… Let us sleep already, Sigma…!"

"We want to enjoy a fresh Sunday!"

Blood Shadow was going over with Sigma about the nocturnal shifts when he pulled a "mirrored" word on him and both Netto and Saito complained at his behavior: their voices were picked over by the PET's microphones and it'd seemed they'd already hit the sack.

"It'd seem that Xon' Edos guy will keep on monitoring us and is likely challenging us to try to reach him too to see if we're worth a few "gifts": luckily this guy is peaceful and doesn't seek to start a fight."

"Mwah, hah, hah… Sode Nox! The newest energy beverage…!"

"Jeez. How lame." Netto groaned.

"Totally."

"Mwah, hah, hah… Scorpion, Vulture and Bella, eh? Then! Noiprocs, Erutluv, Alleb!" Sigma laughed.

"Go patrol the firewall already or Commander Omega WILL get annoyed for REAL this time around."

"Yikes!"

"About time… Good night, Blood…" Netto yawned and sounded relieved.

"Remind Sigma who the Boss is!" Saito advised.

"Leave it up to me: I guess we've got "adventures" for a while yet!"

The four of them chuckled or giggled in a jovial voice…

**THE END**


End file.
